Dr. Walter Siqueira PhD, DDS Associate Dean, Academic

Dr. Siqueira leads the Salivary Proteomics Research Laboratory. Dr. Siqueira’s program in proteomics, diagnostics and therapeutic using saliva is unique in all Canada. His research focuses on how saliva and salivary components can be used to improve the health of patients, both in the diagnosis and as therapeutics. His background as both a dental clinician and basic scientist has enabled him to integrate basic science with applied clinical research and promote knowledge translation. Dr. Siqueira is considered an international authority in the field of salivary research with more than 90 peer-reviewed papers (h-index = 36) in the most prestigious dental and biochemical journals. Due to his innovative research, Dr. Siqueira has been invited to present more than 50 lectures in universities and at conferences nationally and internationally over the last 5 years. Dr. Siqueira has been awarded several prestigious teaching and research honors. He was a recipient of the W.W. Wood Award for Excellence in Dental Education by the Association of Canadian Faculties of Dentistry. He received the 2012 Salivary Researcher of the Year Award from the Salivary Research Group, IADR. The same year, he received the Visiting Professorship Award from the Canadian Association for Dental Research (CADR). Dr. Siqueira was also the recipient of the prestigious CIHR New Investigator Salary Award. In 2018, he received from Western University the title of Faculty Scholar. He was granted the 2019 IADR Distinguished Scientist Award, the most prestigious international award in oral health science. Dr. Siqueira has made several significant contributions to the field of salivary research and dentistry, Dr. Siqueira created an innovative nanoparticle method to delivery and protect, against degradation, salivary proteins and consequently prevent oral diseases (PCT Patent, licensing agreement with an Oral Health Company). Also, he is also deeply involved in the identification of salivary biomarkers for the early and easy diagnosis of global diseases such as Zika virus infection, where the outcome of this study recently was highlighted by the scientific and nonscientific media as a ground-break diagnostic method for these conditions (US Provisional Patent). Dr. Siqueira has trained 17 graduate students, 20 undergraduate students and 4 postdoctoral fellows. He is the current President (2019-2021) of the Canadian Association for Dental Research (CADR). Additionally, he was one of the founders of the Network for Canadian Oral Health Research (NCOHR, a CIHR-funded network) and member of the Steering Committee. Internationally, he served as President and Scientific Program Chair of the Salivary Research Group, IADR. He is an Associate Editor of the journal Clinical Oral Investigations and an Editorial Board member of the Journal of Dental Research.