Discovering the future Profound changes will come from scientific discovery.

Winter 2010

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6 VCU SCHOOL OF DENTISTRY • www.dentistry.vcu.edu

When it comes to research, Dr. Jack Gunsolley will tell you,“I’m not the idea guy. I am the guy who gets things done.” Or putanother way, to paraphrase the series of BASF television com-mercials, “Jack doesn’t conceive the research, he makes theresearch better.” Dr. Gunsolley’s career in academic dentistryspans over 20 years of teaching, service, and research, anddespite his personal humility, he does much more than “getthings done.”

“Jack is a faculty member who does everything you’d everask of a faculty member,” said Dean Ron Hunt. “He serves onuniversity committees, pulls extra time in the clinics, mentorsjunior faculty, and does it willingly and cheerfully. He understandsthe collaborative nature of both research and scholarship.”

Dr. Gunsolley began his career in academic dentistry at VCUin 1986 as a research assistant and subsequently earned his cer-tificate in periodontology and a master of science degree in bio-statistics. Until the mid-1990s, he taught at the VCU School ofDentistry in the Department of Periodontology while holding anaffiliate appointment in the Department of Biostatistics in theSchool of Basic Sciences.

Throughout the span of his academic career, Dr. Gunsolleyhas taught, lectured, and directed courses in everything fromstatistics and research methods to graduate periodontics. Nomatter what course he teaches, however, he emphasizes theimportance of looking at the data. “Our graduates will be prac-ticing dentistry in a world of rapid scientific advances,” Dr.Gunsolley said. “They will need to be able to evaluate, ‘Is this

tool necessary? Does this therapy work?’ I want them to leavehere with the ability to make decisions for the well-being ofpatients based on data.”

In 1996, Dr. Gunsolley left VCU to become the departmentchair at the University of Maryland, but because he felt researchfaculty at VCU were more productive through their collegiality,he returned to Richmond 10 years later.

Always a leader in clinical research, Dr. Gunsolley currentlyserves as the director of the school’s Clinical Research Unitwhere he runs clinical trials for corporate research. He was thedirector of the Center for Clinical Studies at the University ofMaryland, and before that, he worked as the director of appliedresearch at VCU.

Because he understands junior faculty often don’t have timeto attend school and university committee meetings, Dr.Gunsolley frequently volunteers to serve on committees involv-ing research and scholarship. With characteristic humor, hejokes that it isn’t so bad. “When all the committees meet at thesame time,” he said, “I can attend one committee meeting, butget ‘credit’ for serving on three.”

Dr. Gunsolley’s research activities have been awarded fed-eral and commercial dollars. He has obtained funding for 38grants, serving as principal investigator on 18 of those grants.With more than 96 published articles, he has attained the goalof a publication in every sub-discipline of dentistry. Each of hispublications is multi-authored. He has published journal arti-cles with dozens of different authors, which is a true measureof his ability as an effective collaborator.

Currently, Dr. Gunsolley does literature reviews and meta-analyses in which the results from multiple studies are combinedstatistically to give the analysis more power. This kind of sophisti-cated thinking is vitally important to evidence-based dentistry.Researchers and colleagues at VCU and from other universitieslook to Dr. Gunsolley to help them with their studies.

“Jack Gunsolley has been the driving force behind manycollaborative initiatives at the national level,” commented Dr.John Novak, Associate Director of the Center for Oral HealthResearch at the University of Kentucky. “We recently completeda collaboration that brought together the University of Kentucky,University of Maryland, and VCU in an NIH-funded project withthe National Institute on Aging. Jack’s insight into clinical andbasic science research and his ability to apply advanced bio-statistical models have set new standards for oral healthresearch. There are many universities that would love to havehim as part of their faculty.”

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Dr. Gunsolley is one ofthe hardest workers Iknow. He works tire-lessly to improve the

education of dental stu-dents and periodonticsresidents in patient care

and research. He alsodirects the Clinical

Research Unit and helpsfaculty throughout the

school in their efforts toobtain industrial funding

for clinical researchprojects.”

Dr. Harvey Schenkein,

Assistant Dean for Research