Biography

Dr. Evangelia Morou Bermudez obtained a Dental Degree from the University of Athens, Greece, in 1990, and then continued her clinical training at the Eastman Dental Center in Rochester NY, where she completed a Pediatric Dentistry residency and a Advanced General Dentistry Program.   While a resident in Pediatric Dentistry she became involved in the research activities of the Oral Biology Department of the University of Rochester, which led her to pursue a PhD degree in Microbiology and Immunology.

Dr. Evangelia Morou Bermudez has 22 years of experience conducting molecular and clinical studies related to the microbiology of dental caries.   Her initial studies as a PhD student focused on the molecular, genetic, and physiological aspects of alkali production by oral bacteria.  After she obtained her PhD degree, she received a K23 Award from NIH to initiate clinical studies that translated the findings of her graduate research into the clinic, specifically in the area of caries risk assessment and prevention in small children.   With the support of the K23 Award she received formal training in Patient-Oriented Research, including epidemiology, biostatistics, and, more recently, bioinformatics.  She has successfully completed as a PI several NIH-funded clinical/translational studies related to the biological aspects of caries risk assessment and prediction.   More recently she has conducted studies using high throughput sequencing technology to evaluate the impact of caries risk factors on the microbial communities of dental plaque and how this impact relates to dental caries status.

Dr. Morou Bermudez is currently a Professor in Oral Biology at the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine, where she is actively involved in the development and coordination of the Biomedical Sciences Curriculum for the undergraduate and graduate dental students, the teaching of Cariology, and the development and integration of Caries Risk Assessment protocols in the clinical and academic components of the dental school curriculum.   She serves in multiple academic and research committees of the UPR Medical Sciences campus, the Editorial Board of the Puerto Rico Health Sciences Journal, and as Vice-President of the Puerto Rico Chapter of the IADR.