Posted on August 23, 2001 at 1:24 p.m.

BIRMINGHAM, AL — Dr. Marjorie Jeffcoat, a renowned dental researcher, educator and practitioner, has been named the first woman editor of the nation’s premier dental journal, The Journal of the American Dental Association. The publication was founded as a quarterly bulletin in 1913.

A 1976 graduate of the Harvard School of Dental Medicine and immediate past president of the International Association of Dental Research, Jeffcoat will succeed Dr. Lawrence H. Meskin.

Jeffcoat is professor and chair of the department of periodontics at the UAB School of Dentistry and recently received national attention for her research on the link between gum disease and preterm birth, published in JADA in July 2001. She is prominent among researchers exploring the connection between oral infection and overall systemic health.

The newly selected editor said she was “honored” by the appointment, ratified August 5 by the ADA Board of Trustees.

“I look forward to working with the officers and staff, and assessing what members want in their journal,” Jeffcoat said. “JADA should continue to be dentistry’s journal of record, the first place dentists look when seeking the latest clinical research and other information they can use in their daily practices. It is imperative that JADA meet the needs of the chairside dentist, its primary audience.”

Jeffcoat’s appointment culminates an 11-month search that started in September 2000. A nine-member committee of past and present ADA trustees, dental editors and publishing professionals oversaw the search process, selecting Jeffcoat from a field of nearly two dozen candidates.