Purnima Kumar, DDS, P.h.D

Purnima Kumar, DDS, Ph.D., is the William and Mary K. Najjar Endowed Professor of Dentistry and chair of the Department of Periodontology and Oral Medicine at the University of Michigan. She received her dental degree from Annamalai University in India, and her master’s in Periodontology and Ph.D. in Molecular Microbiology from The Ohio State University. She is a Diplomate of the American Board of Periodontology and a Fellow of the Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) program, the International College of Dentists, the American College of Dentists, the Pierre Fouchard Académie and the American Association of Oral, Dental and Craniofacial Research.

Kumar is the principal investigator of the oral microbial ecology laboratory at the University of Michigan that is funded through the NIH, NCI and oral healthcare industry. She has authored more than 100 papers and book chapters and serves as the Associate editor of Periodontology 2000 and senior editor of Microbiome. She is an active researcher, clinician, teacher and administrator, has mentored several pre-dental, dental, master’s, doctoral and post-doctoral students and junior faculty colleagues and has served on several grant review panels for the NIH. She serves on the Continuing Education Oversight Committee and Budget Committee for the AAP and leads the AAP’s Taskforce for Oral-Medical Health Integration. She also serves on the board of directors of the Osteology Foundation and the American Academy of Periodontology Foundation. She is the chair of the Council of Scientific Affairs of the ADA and is their official spokesperson on e-cigarettes and vaping. She also serves on several taskforces for women in science, women in surgery and women in STEM and volunteers for groups that empower women locally and nationally.