Stefanie Leacock has been named as the inaugural director of research for the Lyon College School of Dental Medicine.
Leacock, an assistant professor in the new dental school, will assume the leadership role in addition to her faculty appointment. She will be responsible for advancing scholarly inquiry, supporting faculty and student research initiatives, and ensuring compliance with accreditation standards.
She will aim to develop and implement a research plan aligned with the dental school’s mission and strategic priorities, mentor faculty and students, support grant development, promote dissemination of research and ensure regulatory compliance.
Leacock previously taught in the Department of Biology at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock for nearly seven years and prior to that at the University of Texas at Austin. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, where she used zebrafish as a model organism to study cancer biology.
“Research is at the heart of innovation in oral health,” Dr. Burke Soffe, founding dean of the school, said in a press release. “By appointing Dr. Leacock to this role, we are ensuring that our students will not only receive exceptional clinical training but also learn how to think critically, evaluate evidence and contribute new knowledge to the field. Her leadership will be instrumental in shaping a research culture that will serve our students, our patients and the profession for years to come.”
Leacock has received several awards and fellowships for her research, including support for developing Open Educational Resources in genetics and a fellowship to design a new module for Responsible Conduct of Research education.
She earned a Bachelor of Science in biological sciences from Florida State University and a Doctor of Philosophy in genetics from Yale University. Her dissertation focused on germline gene expression and identified two novel maternally expressed genes. Her postdoctoral research, funded by the American Cancer Society, examined the role of the Ewing’s sarcoma fusion protein in tumor development.
“I was drawn to the dental school by the integrated curriculum and the collaboration between biomedical science and clinical faculty,” Leacock said in the press release. “This position gives me another avenue to work with our faculty and students to develop projects that foster curiosity, build confidence, advance oral health research and support best practices in dental education. My goal is to ensure that every student understands the value, process and interpretation of research so they can provide high-quality patient care that evolves with new discoveries.”
The Lyon College School of Dental Medicine, based in Little Rock, is the first dental school in Arkansas and welcomed its inaugural class of 80 students this summer.
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