Dr. Tegwyn Brickhouse recieves WISDM Professional Acheivement Award
Dr. Tegwyn Brickhouse received the 2011 WISDM Professional Achievement Award. The WISDM Professional Achievement Award is presented annually by the Women in Science, Dentistry, and Medicine (WISDM) Faculty Organization, VCU School of Medicine, MCV Campus. This unique award was established in 1993 to acknowledge the special contributions and accomplishments of women faculty in the School of Medicine. The primary purpose of this award is to recognize a woman who is a role model and mentor, promoting the professional development of other women faculty.
Crossing Leigh Street from N Deck to the School of Dentistry each morning, Dr. Tegwyn Brickhouse is the perfect picture of a young, urban, professional woman. She exudes a laid back confidence, is cool, calm, and has it all together. With her polished, youthful appearance she could easily pass for a grad student or junior faculty member just starting out in her career. Based on that first glance, one would never suspect she is already a seasoned and accomplished faculty member balancing the roles of department chair, gifted teacher, NIH funded researcher, public health advocate, community leader, wife, and mother of two young girls. Teg Brickhouse is a woman who makes having (and succeeding at doing!) it all look effortless and easy.
Professionally, Dr. Brickhouse is the quintessential triple threat. She excels in each area of the tripartite university mission – teaching, research, and service. Her impressive academic background has prepared her well to fill these multiple and varied roles. Dr. Brickhouse earned her dental degree from the University of Nebraska Medical Center and received her pediatric dentistry specialty training at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She also earned a Ph.D. in Epidemiology at the UNC School of Public Health and completed a Dental Public Health residency at the North Carolina Oral Health Section in Raleigh, NC.
Since joining the VCU dental faculty in 2003 as an assistant professor, she has earned promotion to associate professor, and is currently in her second year serving as interim chair of the Department of Pediatric Dentistry. Dr. Brickhouse teaches in numerous preclinical and clinical DDS program courses in addition to teaching in the Pediatric Dentistry residency program clinical and didactic arenas. Her lectures and chair-side teaching in these programs always receive excellent reviews from both students and residents.
An accomplished researcher, Dr. Brickhouse has received several local and federally funded grants. Recent ones include:
1. A.D. Williams grant to examine “Oral Health in a Medical Setting”
2. 4-year NIH grant to examine “Oral Health Disparities in Publicly Insured Children”
3. VCU Institute for Women’s Health Community Based Participatory Research Award “Perinatal Influences on the Incidence of Early Childhood Caries”
4. Industry Sponsored “A Phase 4 Pediatric Study to Assess the Pharmacokinetics and Safety of Oraqix® Gel in Healthy Children and Adolescent Volunteers Following Tooth Extraction”
In addition to pursuing her own research interests, she serves on the School of Dentistry Research Committee and the VCU A.D. Williams Research Advisory Committee. All while mentoring student and resident research projects and serving as thesis advisor or thesis committee member for numerous MSD graduate students.
Dr. Brickhouse’s professional service efforts include serving as the chair of the Virginia Oral Health Coalition, consultant to the Virginia Division of Dental Health’s Bright Smiles Program, membership on the Department of Medical Assistance Services (DMAS) Dental Advisory Committee for the Smiles for Children program, a state leadership position for the AAPD-Head Start Dental Home Initiative, and treasurer of the Women in Science, Dentistry, and Medicine Executive Council. Her service activities are not confined to giving of her own time; she also constantly seeks out ways our dental students and residents can be actively involved in the community to bring a public health and service perspective to their education. Dr. Brickhouse actively builds bridges between the School of Dentistry and the Richmond community at large.
As if her schedule were not already full, she also finds time to actively engage in non-dental community organizations such as the Theatre IV Children’s Theatre Fairy Tale Ball Committee and the Richmond Kappa Kappa Gamma Alumni Association.
When the work day is done, Dr. Brickhouse recharges her batteries through her active and rewarding family life. She has two daughters Cara Lee (5) and May Belle (3), and enjoys tennis, jogging, Nebraska football, and fishing with her husband, Todd.
The VCU School of Dentistry can think on no one more deserving of the 2011 WISDM Professional Achievement Award than Dr. Tegwyn Brickhouse. She is a role model to all women in academic dentistry, as well as education at large. She truly is the mission and values of higher education personified.
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