Guest Speaker Bio - Dr. Peter Milgrom
Dr. Peter Milgrom is Professor of Dental Public Health Sciences and Pediatric Dentistry in the School of Dentistry and also adjunct Professor of Health Services in the School of Public Health and Community Medicine at the University of Washington. He directs the Northwest Center to Reduce Oral Health Disparities at the University of Washington. He maintains a dental practice limited to the care of fearful patients and was for nearly 25 years the Director of the Dental Fears Research Clinic at the UW.
Milgrom's current work includes research on the application of xylitol in public health settings related to caries and otitis, the effectiveness of fluoride varnish applied by physicians during well child immunization visits, pharmacokinetics of short acting benzodiazepines, and studies of cognitive interventions in pediatric and adult dental fear. In conjunction with the Pacific Basin Dental Association, Dr. Milgrom directs a program in the Western Pacific to improve Head Start dental services. His work is supported by the National Institutes of Health, the Office of Head Start, and the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Health Services Resources Administration. Milgrom is author or co-author of 5 books and over 225 scientific articles. His book (with Philip Weinstein and Lisa Heaton), Oral Self Care: Strategies for Preventive Dentistry, was published in 2006.
Milgrom was the Distinguished Dental Behavioral Scientist of the International Association for Dental Research for 1999. In 1999, and again in 2000, Milgrom's work was recognized by the Giddon Award for research in the behavioral sciences in Dentistry. He received the Barrows Milk Award from IADR in 2000, recognizing his work for public health including the development of the Access to Baby and Child Dentistry (ABCD) program in Washington State. In 2003, Milgrom received a Special Commendation Award from the National Legal Aid and Defenders Association and the University of Washington Medical Center Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Service Award. He serves on scientific review committees for the NIDCR and NCMHHD and is a consultant to the US Food and Drug Administration. In 2005 Dr. Milgrom was appointed the SAAD Visiting Professor of Pain and Anxiety Control at the King's College Dental Institute, University of London, UK for a six-year term.
In 2008 he was awarded the degree of Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Bergen, Norway in recognition of his work in social and behavioral dentistry. Dr. Milgrom received his DDS from the University of California, San Francisco in 1972 and had a previous position at the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine.
