Founding Committee

Dr. Ravindra Nanda is part of the founding faculty of the School of Dental Medicine and has been associated with the University of Connecticut since 1972 where he also holds the title of professor emeritus in the Orthodontics Division.  He is also an adjunct faculty at the ADA Forsyth Institute in Cambridge, USA. He is an innovator of various appliances in orthodontics. His research and clinical interests include adolescent and adult orthodontics, the biology of tooth mobility, craniofacial orthopedics, biomechanics and developing efficient mechanics to deliver orthodontic care.

Dr. Zhihe Zhao is the former President of Chinese Orthodontic Society of Chinese Stomatological Association. He is recognized as a young and middle-aged experts who have made outstanding contributions by the National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China. He also holds the title of Academic and Technical Leader of Sichuan Province, Chief Health Expert of Sichuan Province. Dr. Zhao is a Fellow of the International College of Dentists (ICD). He is the deputy Editor-in-Chief of “Chinese Journal of Orthodontics”, Editor-in-chief of the National five-year Undergraduate Textbook “Orthodontics”, in charge of “National First-Class Undergraduate Online Course” - “Orthodontics”, and the first speaker of “Orthodontics” of “China MOOC Alliance Oral Planning Course”.

Dr. Kang Ting currently is an adjunct faculty at the ADA Forsyth Institute, Cambridge, MA, USA.  Dr. Eric Kang Ting graduated from Harvard school of Dental Medicine with high honor and the gold award with DMD in 1991 and PhD, and an orthodontic certificate from Harvard in 1994. He currently is an adjunct faculty at the ADA Forsyth Institute, Cambridge, MA, USA. He was formerly the Academic Senate Tenured Professor since 2002 and founding chair in the Division of Growth and Development at UCLA. The Division comprises the Sections of Orthodontics and Pediatric Dentistry. Besides his teaching and clinical responsibilities in Orthodontics. Dr. Ting has google scholar h-index of 62 – as one of the top three highest orthodontists globally. Ting’s original research has received well over 12,000 citations. It has been published in many leading journals, including Nature Communications, Journal of Clinical Investigation, PLOS One, and Biomaterials, etc as the principal author. Dr. Ting has been served as a PARC AAOF committee member since 2015. In 2018, Professor Ting and his team received the International Space Station (ISS) Innovation Award for Biology and Medicine for Development of NELL-1 Bone-Growth Systemic Therapy by the American Astronautical Society. Dr. Ting has received over US 30M in funding from the US government as a key investigator in his career.  Stemmed from his research, two novel biologic drugs are currently in FDA clinical trials for scar reduction, and bone regeneration respectively.

Dr. Peter Ngan is West Virginia University Branson-Maddrell Endowed Professor and Chairman of the Department of Orthodontics, West Virginia University, School of Dentistry.  Dr. Ngan is an Honorary Professor in the Faculty of Dentistry, University of Hong Kong and a Guest Professor at Wuhan University, School of Stomatology, China. Dr. Ngan holds a dental degree from Harvard University, School of Dental Medicine and Certificates in Orthodontics, Pediatric Dentistry and Hospital Dentistry from the University of Pennsylvania, School of Dental Medicine / Children Hospital of Philadelphia. Dr. Ngan’s research focuses on growth and development, appliance therapy and implantology. He has published over 160 peer-reviewed articles and 180 abstracts. He is a member of the Angle East (Eastern Component of the Edward H. Angle Society), a Diplomate of the American Board of Orthodontics and a Diplomate of the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry. 

Dr. Ko has been associated with academic bioengineering and clinical orthodontics in various capacities over the last 30 years.  He is presently the Professor and Vig/William Endowed Chair of the Division of Orthodontics, Ohio State University College of Dentistry in Columbus, OH. He received his dental training first at Kaohsiung Medical College, and then PhD in Bioengineering at University of Michigan and then Orthodontic Specialty from University of Minnesota. He was an Assistant Professor of Oral Biology at Minnesota Dental Research Center for Biomechanics and Biomaterials at University of Minnesota, Minneapolis US, from 1994 to 2006, and Professor in the Department of Orthodontics at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (UNC) from 2006 to 2020. Before leaving UNC, he served as Program Director (2013-2019) and Chairman (2017-2020) at UNC. Many of his students received awards from American Association of Orthodontists Foundation under his direct mentorship. Dr. Ko has contributed more than 170 publications to the scientific literature in biomaterial/biomechanical sciences, orthodontics, and bone biology. He has co-authored more than 10 book chapters and recently co-edited the book entitled “Machine Learning in Dentistry”. His research in bone tissue engineering and orthodontic bioengineering was funded by NIH. He maintains a faculty clinical practice at OSU.

Dr. Martín holds the position of Clinical Teacher at the PostGraduate Program of Orthodontics at the university of UCM since 1996.  She is a specialist in Orthodontics, having completed a 3-year postgraduate program at the University Complutense of Madrid and complementary postgraduate studies at UCLA. She received her Doctorate Degree in Odontology (Dr Odont) at the University of UCM. She is a specialist in Statistics and Experimental Design, having completed a Masters’ Degree at the University Autonoma in Barcelona. Now She is also on the editorial board of the European Journal of Orthodontics. She is currently the PI of the research group “Craniofacial Biology: Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics” (BIOCRAN) officially recognized and funded by the Spanish Government. Her past responsibilities in research involved the participation in two other research groups, one dealing with masticatory muscle physiology and neuromuscular activity in different malocclusions (mainly posterior cross-bites), and the ETEP research group: a multidisciplinary research group in aetiology and therapy of periodontal diseases, that covered topics such as biology of tooth movement, antimicrobial approaches in the treatment of gingivitis, periodontitis and peri-implant infections and bone and soft tissue biology.

Dr. Theodore Eliades, graduated from the School of Dentistry, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, and completed his Orthodontic residency at the Ohio State University. He earned a Master of Science degree from Ohio State, a doctorate in Medical Sciences from the University of Athens, School of Medicine, a PhD in Biomaterials from the University of Manchester, where he was awarded a DSc degree. His research has generated 280 papers in PubMed listed journals and 50 book chapters, which have received over 13,000 citations and index of 63 (google scholar). He has edited 13 textbooks published by major houses, some of which translated into 5 languages. He has co-supervised and/or examined 50 doctorate and Master theses at universities from 7 countries on 4 continents and is an elected Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining, the Royal Society of Chemistry, and the Institute of Physics (UK).

Dr. Bin Cai is the President of the Orthodontic Society of Guangdong Stomatological Association and President of the Society of Orthodontics Assessment in Private Practice of Guangdong.  He is also a Standing Committee Member of Orthodontic Society of Chinese Stomatological Association, a Fellow of the International College of Dentists(ICD) , a member of the World Federation of Orthodontists (WFO), and an Executive Director of Guangdong  Stomatological Association.