An award-winning dental researcher from the University of Alabama (UA) will become the first female dean of Penn’s School of Dental Medicine this summer.

President Judith Rodin has announced that Marjorie K. Jeffcoat has been selected as the next dean of the Dental School, succeeding Raymond M. Fonseca.

A graduate of MIT and the Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Jeffcoat is currently assistant dean of research and professor and chair of periodontics at UA’s School of Dentistry.

She has served on the editorial boards of a number of professional research journals and is currently editor-in-chief of the Journal of

the American Dental Association. Among her dozen awards are the Clinical Research Award and the Gies Award, both from the American Academy of Periodontology, and the President’s Achievement Award from UA-Birmingham..

“We are delighted that a researcher and academic of Dr. Jeffcoat’s caliber will be bringing her considerable talents to Penn’s dental school,” Rodin said.

“Dr. Jeffcoat’s reputation as a clinical researcher and her leadership at the University of Alabama-Birmingham put her at the very forefront of dental medicine today,” said Provost Robert Barchi.