Jill Lewis, PhD
Assistant Dean for Biomedical Sciences Research, Professor
College of Dental Medicine
Illinois Wesleyan University, BA
Medical College of Georgia, PhD
Dr. Lewis’ research interests center on the molecular events of inflammation and their relationship to disease processes such as periodontal disease and oral cancer. She primarily uses cell culture and molecular techniques to assess changes in cell signaling and metabolism in response to cellular stressors such as bacterial lipopolysaccharide, biomaterials, and light energy. Dr. Lewis has been actively involved in student research for many years, and has mentored dozens of pre-doctoral, MS and PhD students.
Dr. Lewis is a Full Professor in the College of Dental Medicine with over 20 years of experience in dental education and research. Dr. Lewis received her PhD in Cell and Molecular Biology and post-doctoral training in Herpesvirology from the Medical College of Georgia (now Georgia Regents University Augusta), and was appointed to its faculty in the College of Dental Medicine Department of Oral Biology. At her previous position at GRUA, Dr. Lewis was the teaching director for the Biochemistry section, course director for several pre-doctoral and post-graduate courses, and Director of the Graduate Program in Oral Biology. In addition, she received a number of teaching and service awards from the Colleges of Dental Medicine and Graduate Studies including the Outstanding Faculty Award for the College of Dental Medicine in 2005 and 2011. Since joining the Western University of Health Sciences faculty in 2012, Dr. Lewis is serving as an advisor to the CDM Student Research Group and participating in the basic sciences curriculum.