A current Interdisciplinary Ph.D. student, Jacob McGuire, is working on melding his clinical background with a career in research. He graduated from the UMKC School of Dentistry in 1998, then attended an endodontic residency at UCLA before practicing as a specialist for about eight years.
“Though I enjoyed clinical practice and miss my patients and staff, I was always curious as to the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of research and how it impacts patient care,” McGuire said. “My clinical background gives me the advantage of looking at questions from a different perspective.”
McGuire knew as a young boy that he wanted to pursue a career in dentistry. He was inspired by an uncle who “sparked the passion.” This allowed him to set his goals early, including only two years of undergraduate work before he entered the Dental School.
“As my alma mater for my undergraduate and DDS training, UMKC has been very good to me, allowing me to pursue a career as a dental specialist,” he said. “The training and experience that I received at UMKC was second to none.”
His residency at UCLA stemmed from UMKC’s lack of such a program at the time. The specialty of endodontics is relatively new, and UMKC recently introduced a residency program. When McGuire decided to pursue his Ph.D., he said UMKC was an easy choice for his training.
“UMKC is home to world-renowned researchers including the Departments of Oral and Craniofacial Sciences and Pharmacology,” he said. “This provides an educational and mentorship framework that I could not pass up.”
McGuire said he specifically chose the Interdisciplinary Ph.D. program rather than a traditional Ph.D. program with a single-discipline focus.
“It offers the clear advantage of a broader educational experience and research perspective,” he said. “This type of program is critical in offering the support and collaborative research approach required to address most research questions. Disciplines are rarely, if ever, isolated, but in fact very intertwined.”
Each year of his work in the IPhD program has built on previous years, and McGuire considers it to be a successful journey thus far. He is currently working on a dissertation focusing on enamel matrix proteins within the developed tissue. Oral cancer is typically treated with radiotherapy, which affects the proteins in the enamel. McGuire’s project, in conjunction with the lab, focuses on these effects.
“Ultimately, the goal of our work is to allow oral cancer patients to retain a healthy dentition following treatment,” he said. “Additionally, our findings may spawn the development of new materials to restore teeth based on biomimetic concepts.”
McGuire intends to graduate in 2014, then stay in Kansas City where his family lives.
“I hope to stay at the School of Dentistry if the opportunity is available,” he said. “I envision myself as having a dual type of appointment, utilizing my clinical and research training, teaching/mentoring dental students and residents while pursuing clinically relevant research topics.”
The transition from clinical practice to academia has been interesting for McGuire.
“It’s a culmination of the previous mentors who sacrificed lucrative clinical practices,” he said. “Someone had to teach you, and someone has to be there to make the programs operate.”
McGuire said he worked with several mentors who helped inspire him, including Dr. Dudley Glick at UCLA and Dr. Lyndal Holmes at UMKC. He also said he’s enjoyed all the relationships throughout his career thus far.
“Being from a private practice, you realize how much the staff contributes to your success. I couldn’t work clinically without the support of my staff,” he said. “At UMKC, the relationships fostered with staff, colleagues, and mentors are ones that are not temporary, but will last a lifetime.”