Jennifer Webster-Cyriaque

{{Infobox scientist

| name = Jennifer Webster-Cyriaque

| image = Jennifer Webster-Cyriaque.jpg

| caption = Webster-Cyriaque in 2020

| fields = Oral microbiome, immunology, HIV

| workplaces = University of North Carolina
National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research

| alma_mater = University at Buffalo
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

| thesis_title = The role of Epstein-Barr virus in hairy leukoplakia and other AIDS associated oral mucosal lesions

| thesis_url = https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/47672170

| thesis_year = 1998

| doctoral_advisor = Nancy Raab-Traub

}}

Jennifer Y. Webster-Cyriaque is an American dentist and immunologist specializing in the oral microbiome, salivary gland disease in patients with HIV, and cancer-causing viruses. She became the deputy director of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research in November 2020. Webster-Cyriaque was a faculty member at UNC Adams School of Dentistry and the UNC School of Medicine for 21 years.

Education

Webster-Cyriaque completed a B.A. in biology and social science in 1988 and a D.D.S. from University at Buffalo in 1992. She earned a doctorate in microbiology and immunology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) in 1998.{{Cite web|title=Jennifer Webster-Cyriaque, DDS, PhD|url=https://www.nidcr.nih.gov/about-us/leadership-staff/organizational-chart/office-of-the-director/jennifer-webster-cyriaque-dds-phd|access-date=February 6, 2022|website=NIH|language=en}}{{PD-notice}} Her dissertation was titled The role of Epstein–Barr virus in hairy leukoplakia and other AIDS associated oral mucosal lesions. {{Interlanguage link|Nancy Raab-Traub|qid=Q90483481}} was her doctoral advisor.{{Cite thesis|title=The role of Epstein-Barr virus in hairy leukoplakia and other AIDS associated oral mucosal lesions|date=1998|language=English|first=Jennifer|last=Webster-Cyriaque|degree=Ph.D.|publisher=University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill|oclc=47672170}}

Career

Webster-Cyriaque has been part of the UNC Adams School of Dentistry's and the UNC School of Medicine's faculty for over twenty years.{{Cite web|title=NIDCR taps Webster-Cyriaque as deputy director|url=https://www.drbicuspid.com/index.aspx?sec=ser&sub=def&pag=dis&ItemID=329685|access-date=February 17, 2022|website=DrBicuspid.com| date=November 22, 2021 }} Webster-Cyriaque is one of the UNC's tenured full professors. She supported the UNC Hospital’s dental clinic and she investigated a potential cause for a salivary gland disease in HIV patients. She assessed the oral microbiome's implications for Oncoviruses, and its impact on the HIV patient's oral health.

File:Kamuzu Central Hospital.jpg]]

In 2004, she became responsible for the "UNC Malawi project". The project is a partnership between the Malawi Ministry of Health (led by Khumbize Chiponda since 2020) and the UNC.{{Cite web|title=UNC Project-Malawi|url=https://globalhealth.unc.edu/malawi/|access-date=February 17, 2022|website=globalhealth.unc.edu}} The UNC Malawi Project is based in the country's capital at the Kamuzu Central Hospital.{{Cite web|title=UNC Project Partners {{!}} UNC Project-Malawi|url=https://globalhealth.unc.edu/malawi/partners/|access-date=February 17, 2022|website=globalhealth.unc.edu}} Webster-Cyriaque assisted in creating Malawi’s first dental school in 2019. Webster-Cyriaque was the chair/vice chair of the Oral HIV/AIDS Research Alliance, the research director at the National Dental Association Foundation, and director of postdoctoral Clinical and Translational Science Award training. She is an active member of the American Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research and the International Association for Dental Research.

In March 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic Webster-Cyriaque was involved with research at the Adams School of Dentistry at the UNC to see if mouthwash could be used to inactivate the Covid-19 virus.{{Cite news|last=Jaramillo-Plata|first=Nayeli|date=March 23, 2021|title=A tool to kill COVID-19 might be in your medicine cabinet: mouthwash|work=The Daily Tar Heel|url=https://www.dailytarheel.com/article/2021/03/university-mouthwash-trial|access-date=February 18, 2022}} Later that year she became the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research's deputy director under the new Director Rena D’Souza.{{Cite web|date=November 21, 2021|title=Webster-Cyriaque Selected as Deputy Director, NIDCR|url=https://www.nidcr.nih.gov/news-events/nidcr-news/2021/webster-cyriaque-selected-deputy-director-nidcr|access-date=February 6, 2022|website=NIH|language=en}}{{PD-notice}} In 2022, Webster-Cyriaque received the International Association for Dental Research Distinguished Scientist Oral Pathology and Medicine Research Award. The same year, she was named to the National Academy of Medicine for For making seminal contributions to the understanding of the role of virus-host interaction in oral disease.{{Cite web |date=2022-11-25 |title=Four NIH Scientists Named to National Academy of Medicine |url=https://nihrecord.nih.gov/2022/11/25/four-nih-scientists-named-national-academy-medicine |access-date=2023-04-28 |website=NIH Record |language=EN}}{{PD-notice}}