Dr. J. Max Goodson was born in Lubbock, Texas and raised on a Texas ranch. He received a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from Texas Tech University (1962), a dental degree (D.D.S.) from the University of Texas Dental Branch, and a master’s degree in dental research and a Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of Rochester (1970).

He taught Pharmacology for seven years at the University of California, San Francisco, where he became a full professor. Here, he identified PGE2 as a component of periodontal disease and elucidated the danger in treatment of pedodontics patients with narcotics (especially alphaprodine) combined with local anesthetics.

In 1976, he joined the faculty of The Forsyth Institute in Boston to work with Sigmund Socransky in the Periodontal Research Center and received an appointment in the Harvard School of Dental Medicine. In this environment, he published evidence for an episodic periodontal disease hypothesis and developed the first FDA-approved local drug delivery system for periodontal disease therapy (Actisite®).

In a five-year clinical study (2012-2017) of adolescent obesity and diabetes of Kuwaiti children (n=8,317), he identified elevated salivary levels in obese children of 1-methyl-2 pyridone-5 carboxamide (2PY), a product associated with low-level consumption of uranium suggesting that obesity in Kuwait could be the result of military contamination occurring during the Gulf War. In that study of adolescent obesity in children with and without gingivitis, he reported data suggesting that salivary levels of the amino acid hydroxyproline, an effect commonly associated with collagen destruction, suggests that obesity and gingivitis may interact with each other. He is now Senior Member of the Staff Emeritus of The Forsyth Institute and Associate Clinical Professor at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine.

Rachel Mascari earned her Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of South Carolina and her Master of Science in Physiology and Biophysics from Georgetown University. She is currently a medical student in the Class of 2022 at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, South Caroline. Following graduation, she plans to pursue residency training in Neurology. She is actively engaged in research in the role of infection and inflammation in pathophysiology of cerebrovascular disease.

Souvik Sen received his graduate medical degree (1990) from University of Calcutta, Master of Public Health degree (2009) in Epidemiology from the Gillings School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina (UNC), Chapel Hill, and Master of Science degree (1993) in Cardiovascular Pharmacology from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. He completed his Neurology Residency (1997) at Temple University in Philadelphia and his Post-Doctoral fellowship (1998) in Cerebrovascular Diseases (Stroke) from the Johns Hopkin’s Medical Institution in Baltimore, Maryland.

In 2002, Dr. Sen founded the Stroke Center at UNC Chapel Hill. In 2010, he joined as the founding Chair and Tenured Professor of the Department of Neurology at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine. From 2018-2020, he served as President of the South Carolina Neurology Association.

Dr. Sen has received several grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). He is currently the principal investigator in the NIH-funded PREMIERS study, an ongoing randomized clinical trial investigating the role of treatment of periodontal disease in secondary stroke prevention. He is currently an affiliated faculty for the UNC Center for Oral Systemic Disease

Kim A. Boggess is Professor of Ob/Gyn and Maternal Fetal Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her clinical and research expertise focuses on infection and inflammation complicating pregnancy. Her prior accomplishments include preclinical and clinical studies defining the relationship between maternal oral infection, inflammation, and adverse pregnancy outcomes.

Dr. Boggess has successfully managed and conducted multi-center trials, funded by both the National Institutes of Health and by industry. She was co-investigator of a multicenter clinical study to determine the optimal antibiotic strategy to prevent maternal and infant post-cesarean infectious complications, Principal Investigator for a longitudinal study of markers for preeclampsia and spontaneous preterm birth, and Principal Investigator of a pharmacokinetic study of 17-hydroxyprogesterone for preterm birth prevention. She has also completed research using large databases, including a MarketScan® Claims Database analysis of the association of treatment choice in gestational diabetes on adverse pregnancy outcomes and an examination of the utility of Tdap vaccination during pregnancy. Currently, she is Co-Investigator for an NHLBI-funded multicenter trial of hypertension treatment complicating pregnancy and the Co-Principal Investigator for an NICHD-funded multicenter trial of treatment of type 2 diabetes in pregnancy.

Dr. Boggess completed her MD training at the State University of Stony Brook, her Ob/Gyn residency training at the University of Washington, her Maternal Fetal Medicine Fellowship training at Duke University, and her Certificate in Health Disparities Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Dr. Mark Ryder is a Professor of Periodontology and former Chair of the Division of Periodontology and Director of the Postgraduate program in Periodontology at the University of California, San Francisco, where he has been a faculty member for the past 42 years. He received his dental and specialty training from the Harvard School of Dental Medicine. He has lectured extensively on a variety of research and educational topics. His current research interests include connections between periodontal diseases and Alzheimer’s Disease, the links between oral and systemic health in HIV patients, and basic and clinical trials on novel periodontal therapies. He has received awards from both the University of California and from national organizations for his entertaining and informative lectures, and for his contributions to dental education.