Dr. Deborah Studen-Pavlovich serves as professor, chair, and residency program director of the Department of Pediatric Dentistry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine. In this role, she oversees all of the curriculum and activities of the department including the annual Give Kids A Smile Days.
Prior to beginning dental school, Dr. Studen-Pavlovich graduated cum laude from Butler University, Indianapolis, in 1976. She received her DMD degree and certificate in pediatric dentistry from the University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine in 1980 and 1983 respectively.
Dr. Studen-Pavlovich has held several leadership positions in national organizations that include Chair, Section on Pediatric Dentistry, American Dental Education Association and Chair, Committee on the Adolescent, and consultant, Council on Clinical Affairs, American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry. As a diplomate of the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry, she serves as a test consultant for the Written Qualifying Examination. She has served the American Dental Association as a consultant to the Orthodontics/Pediatric Dentistry portion, the Case Histories portion, and the upcoming integrated examination of the National Dental Board Examination Test Construction Committee as well as the predoctoral clinical consultant for the Commission on Dental Accreditation. One of her most rewarding service roles is serving for the past 26 years as the Faculty Advisor for the Student Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry at the dental school.
She has been honored by the American Dental Education Association as their 1997 Enid A. Neidle Scholar-in-Residence and has been awarded fellowship in Omicron Kappa Upsilon, American College of Dentists, International College of Dentists, and Pierre Fauchard Academy. The University of Pittsburgh awarded her with the Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award in 2003 and the American Medical Student Association Foundation recognized her as one of the recipients of the Leadership Seminar Series program on ethnic minority health in 2003 - 2004. In 2010 she received the University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine’s Distinguished Alumna Award – Advanced Programs.