Dugoni School of Dentistry Departments and Chairs

David Ojcius

Professor and Co-Chair, Biomedical Sciences

Email: dojcius@pacific.edu

Phone: 415.780.2095

Dr. Ojcius completed his baccalaureate and Ph.D. training in Biophysics from U.C. Berkeley and two postdoctoral fellowships at Harvard and Rockefeller University. He then worked for thirteen years at the Pasteur Institute in Paris and the University of Paris-Diderot, where he studied interactions between human pathogens and the host immune system. More recently, he served as Professor and Vice Provost for Academic Personnel at U.C. Merced. He joined the University of the Pacific School of Dentistry in 2015.

Homayon Asadi

Biomedical Sciences (BMS) Co-Chair and Professor

Email: hasadi@pacific.edu

Phone: 415.929.6441

Dr. Homayon Asadi is Chair and Professor of the Biomedical Sciences Department, Course Director, and a faculty member at the Biomedical Sciences Department at the Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry since 1990. He is also a past chair of the Institutional Review Board at the University of the Pacific. He has been in private practice concurrently for the past 34 years, and is a 1988 graduate and alumni of the Dugoni School of Dentistry and an active member of the Dugoni School community.  

Dr. Asadi lectures extensively on a variety of professionally relevant continuing education courses at the American Dental Association, California Dental Association, Oregon Dental Association, as well as the University of the Pacific's Continuing Dental Education Department. 

Dr. Asadi is a member of the Omicron Kappa Upsilon National Honor society, and a Fellow of the American College of Dentist, the International College of Dentist, and Pierre Fauchard Academy. He serves on the Advanced Dental Aptitude Test (ADAT), Integrated National Board Dental Examination (INBDE), Test Construction Committee (TCC) of the American Dental Association, and a Site Visitor for the Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA).

Shika Gupta

Department Chair, Clinical Oral Healthcare

Email: sgupta@pacific.edu

Phone: 415.351.7176

Dr. Shika Gupta graduated with a DDS degree from the International Dental Studies program at University of the Pacific, Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry in 2007. Prior to this, she received her Bachelor of Dental Surgery degree from Goa Dental College and Hospital, Goa, India, and Master of Dental Science degree from University of Malaya.  

Dr. Gupta started teaching at the Dugoni School in 2007. She served as director of Communication and Calibration in the Department of Integrated Reconstructive Dental Sciences and as a group practice leader in the Department of Clinical Oral Healthcare. She cofounded Pacmanual, the clinic guidebook at the Dugoni School, and currently serves as its faculty advisor. She is the recipient of several teaching awards and is a member of the Phi Kappa Phi honor society. Dr. Gupta served as chair of the Academic Council at the University of the Pacific in the 2022-23 academic year. She was named chair of the Department of Clinical Oral Healthcare in June 2023. 

Paul Subar

Professor/Chair of Diagnostic Sciences

Email: psubar@pacific.edu

Phone: 415.749.3374

Professor at the Dugoni School and the director of the school's Special Care Clinic/Hospital Dentistry Program, Subar teaches three core courses in the curriculum and a variety of weekly seminar programs. He specializes in access to oral health for patients with special needs, including those with severe medical, developmental and/or psychosocial conditions. Subar's clinical responsibilities include delivery of dental services to patients requiring hospital dentistry as well as responding to consultation requests from the transplant and medicine services at California Pacific Medical Center. He has served on several key school committees including the Admissions committee, Strategic Planning Committee, Faculty Appointments and Tenure Committee, and is the chair of the Extramural Programs Committee.

A graduate of the University of California, Santa Cruz with baccalaureate degrees in both biochemistry and molecular biology, Subar earned his DDS from the University of California Los Angeles and completed his hospital training at the UCLA Medical Center. In 2009 he received his Doctorate in Education and Professional Leadership from University of the Pacific's Benerd School of Education. Subar's background includes serving as a dental director of a Federally Qualified Health Center and as a commissioned officer in the United States Public Health Service.

Subar received the Advanced Education in General Dentistry Faculty Award three years in a row and was the first award recipient of the California Dental Association's annual Arthur A. Dugoni Faculty Award. In 2010, Subar was elected to the Omicron Kappa Upsilon Dental Honor Society.

Terry Hoover

Professor/Vice-Chair of Diagnostic Sciences

Email: thoover@pacific.edu

Phone: 415.929.6544

Adham Abdel Azim

Assoc. Professor/Chair of Endodontics

Email: aazim@pacific.edu

Phone: 415.929.6625

Dr. Azim is the chair of the Endodontic Department at University of the Pacific, Dugoni School of Dentistry, and he maintains a private endodontics practice. He is also the founder and CEO of Endolit.

Dr. Azim earned his BDS from Cairo University, where he also did his endodontic training. He later completed his endodontic certificate at Columbia University, and since then, he has been a full-time educator and a part-time private practitioner. Before joining the University of the Pacific, he served as the division head and director of the Endodontic Post-Graduate Program at University at Buffalo.

Dr. Azim is a diplomate of the American Board of Endodontics. He has lectured all over the world and has been awarded several times for his research work. He has over 30 publications in peer-reviewed journals and several textbook chapters such including Ingle Endodontics and Endodontics: Principles and Practices. He is a member of the scientific advisory board of the Journal of Endodontics, associate editor for the European Journal of Endodontics, and a reviewer for multiple other endodontic journals such as the International Endodontic Journal, Journal of Dental Traumatology and JADA. 

David Lam

Chair, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery

Email: dlam@pacific.edu

Phone: 415.929.6519

David K. Lam, MD, DDS, PhD, FRCDC serves as chair and Dr. T. Galt and Lee DeHaven Atwood Endowed Professor in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. Dr. Lam specializes in the comprehensive surgical management of patients with cancer, pathology, and trigeminal nerve injury. His research and clinical programs are closely integrated, and his research addresses the challenges he faces in the clinical management of oral and maxillofacial surgery patients. He obtained his DDS with Honors from the University of Toronto and subsequently obtained a PhD in the Collaborative Program in Neuroscience and Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery Specialty Certificate from the same institution. He earned his MD from the University of California, Davis and completed a Postdoctoral Neuroscience Research Fellowship, as well as a Surgical Fellowship in Maxillofacial Oncology and Reconstructive Surgery at the University of California, San Francisco. He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery and a Fellow (OMFS) in the Royal College of Dentists in Canada. His funded research focuses on the diagnosis and management of pathology, nerve injury, and pain. In addition to funding on research, education and training grants, Lam has published and presented internationally, nationally and locally on a variety of topics relevant to his research and clinical interests.

Heesoo Oh

Professor/Chair of Orthodontics

Email: hoh@pacific.edu

Phone: 415.749.3333

Dr. Oh earned her DDS degree, Certificate in Pediatric Dentistry and PhD in Oral Biology from Chonnam National University, School of Dentistry in Gwang-Ju, Korea. In 2001, she was awarded a certificate in Advanced Education in General Dentistry from University of the Pacific's Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry and also completed her MSD in Orthodontics from the Dugoni School in 2005.

Also in 2005, Dr. Oh joined the Dugoni School as a faculty member. She has served as program director of the Graduate Orthodontics Program since 2010 and director of the Craniofacial Research Instrumentation Laboratory since 2017. In partnership with Dr. Gabby Thodas, Dr. Oh served as interim co-chair of the Department of Orthodontics starting in 2017 and became the chair in 2019. 

Dr. Oh's research interests focus on longitudinal craniofacial growth study and orthodontic clinical outcome studies involving various treatment approaches that are compared to untreated subjects. She is the Director of Craniofacial Research Instrumentation Laboratory and her research has earned her multiple awards from the American Association of Orthodontists and American Association of Orthodontists Foundation (AAOF).

Dr. Oh has successfully conducted multiple funded projects. Currently she is a co-principal investigator of R-01 grant developing facial growth predictions for various facial types supported by the NIH/NIDCR. Dr. Oh heads the Steering Committee of the AAOF Craniofacial Growth Legacy Collection's Curators Group.

Dr. Oh is a diplomate of the American Board of Orthodontics since 2007; She serves as a reviewer for several journals in orthodontics and dental research.

• Craniofacial Research Instrumentation Laboratory (CRIL)
• AAOF Craniofacial Growth Legacy Collection 

Bill Lundergan

Professor/Chair of Periodontics

Email: wlundergan@pacific.edu

Phone: 415.929.6543

A 1981 alumnus, Dr. William P. Lundergan was valedictorian of his class and was inducted into Tau Kappa Omega and Omicron Kappa Upsilon dental honor societies. He earned a certificate in periodontics from the University of Connecticut in 1983 and a master's degree in education from Pacific in 1994.

Lundergan is an active member of the American Academy of Periodontology, American Dental Education Association, International Association of Dental Research, American College of Dentists, Pierre Fauchard Academy and San Francisco Dental Society. He has served on many University committees and is a former vice president, president-elect and president of the Delta Delta Chapter of Omicron Kappa Upsilon.

Lundergan has served as the chair and councilor for the American Dental Education Associations Section on Periodontics and is a past member of the American Academy of Periodontology's Education Committee. He has also been a consultant to the California State Board of Dental Examiners and the Veteran's Affairs Dental Clinic in Palo Alto.

He was granted fellowship in the American College of Dentists in 1991 and received the 2002 Distinguished Faculty Award from University of the Pacific.

Lundergan is a reviewer for the Journal of the California Dental Association. He has several publications in peer-reviewed journals and is an author and editor for the 5th edition of Hall's Critical Decisions in Periodontology and Implantology. His scholarship has been in the area of periodontal therapy with an emphasis on product testing.

Rebecca Moazzez

Professor/Chairperson

Email: rmoazzez@pacific.edu

Phone: 415.780.2068

Rebecca Moazzez, BDS, MSc, PhD, FDSRCS (Eng.), FDSRCS (Rest.), MRD, joined the Dugoni School of Dentistry as the chair of the Department of Preventive and Restorative Dentistry in 2021. Previously, she was professor of Prosthodontics and Oral Clinical Research at King’s College London school of Dentistry in the UK, where she began teaching in 1998, focusing on predoctoral and specialty prosthodontics. In 2013, she also served as the college’s founding director of the Oral Clinical Research Unit, which has attracted over $7M of funding since its conception.

Moazzez received her BDS in 1986 from University of London and subsequently engaged in postgraduate specialty training, earning the gold medal and prize for the fellowship examination of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, a master’s degree in prosthodontics and a PhD with work in the field of dental erosion and gastroesophageal reflux disease, as well as several other specialty qualifications from the Royal College of Surgeon’s of England.

She is a specialist in prosthodontics and a consultant in restorative dentistry with special interest in dental erosion, TMJ dysfunction and minimally invasive dentistry. She is one of 2 UK and 16 global experts in the field of dental erosion and erosive tooth wear. She has supervised 10 PhD and 15 MSc projects.  She has to her credit over 50 publications in refereed journals and several book chapters, as well as grants totaling $4 million from commercial and non-commercial organizations to help fund her research.

She serves on several national and international organizations including IADR and acts as examiner for the Royal College of Surgeons of England and University of Malaya for their Prosthodontics specialty programs and examinations.

Rinku Saini

Associate Professor/Department Chairperson

Email: rsaini@pacific.edu

Phone: 415.351.7159