Dr. Isabel Garcia has been appointed deputy director of NIDCR. “I am delighted to have Dr. Garcia as the institute’s new deputy director,” said NIDCR director Dr. Lawrence Tabak. “She brings to the job a wide range of experience in dental public health, research and administration. Dr. Garcia also has a wealth of knowledge about NIDCR and NIH research issues, gained over 12 years working for our institute. Her experience and unique perspective will serve NIDCR well.”

For the past 3 years, as director of NIDCR’s Office of Science Policy and Analysis, Garcia has served as principal advisor to Tabak and other members of the executive staff on science policy, health policy and legislative matters. She has managed the institute’s scientific planning, evaluation, coding and reporting activities. Garcia led development of the current NIDCR strategic plan and the institute’s plan for eliminating health disparities. A captain in the Commissioned Corps, she is also director of the dental public health residency program at NIDCR.

“I am honored to have been selected as NIDCR’s new deputy director,” she said. “The institute has a distinguished history of discovery and innovation and I feel fortunate to be part of its leadership. I look forward to working with my colleagues, our grantees and our many partners within and outside dentistry who are all so key to our continued success.”

Since joining NIDCR in 1995 as a special assistant for science transfer, Garcia has served as the institute’s liaison to professional organizations, various government entities and Congress on oral health research issues. She directed activities to promote science-based practice, developed science transfer activities for clinicians and led the development of a curriculum supplement on oral health science for use by elementary school teachers nationwide.

Before joining NIDCR, Garcia was a health scientist administrator at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, where she managed research on health services and primary care. Prior to her PHS career, she held local and state health management positions, including county health director for the Virginia division of dental health and director of dental research and evaluation in the Ohio department of health. Isabel GarciaDuring the early 1980s, she was in private practice in Richmond.

After graduating from the University of Mary Washington with a degree in chemistry, Garcia earned a doctor of dental science degree from the Medical College of Virginia and a master’s degree in public health from the of Michigan. She completed a residency in dental public health at Michigan and a fellowship in primary care policy in the PHS. Active in many professional organizations, Garcia gained diplomate status in the American Board of Dental Public Health. In 2003, she was elected to a 6-year term as one of the board’s directors.

She succeeds Dr. Dushanka Kleinman, who retired from government service to become associate dean for research and academic affairs, College of Health and Human Performance, University of Maryland.