Position: Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Periodontics

Organization: University of Tennessee Health Science Center

Biography Text: Dr. Vrushali Abhyankar is the Program Director for the Advanced Education in Periodontics at University of Tennessee Health Science Center and is also the residents’ mentor at external site of Church Health. Dr. Abhyankar received her BDS and MDS in Prosthodontics from India and later earned her MS in Oral sciences and Certificate in Periodontics from University of Iowa. Dr. Abhyankar practiced prosthodontics for multiple years before she completed her second residency in periodontics, which gives her a unique perspective towards interdisciplinary care, and she loves to work with all specialties to achieve the best possible outcomes for her patients. Before joining University of Tennessee in 2018 as a full-time faculty, she practiced periodontics at a private periodontal office in Texas. She has won the Colgate Award for Research Excellence (CARE) with her co-investigator Dr. Ammar Abidi, the John S. Diggs Nelson Graduate Faculty Enrichment Award, extramural grant by International Congress of Oral Implantologists , the AAP foundation’s Colin-Richman Perio-ortho award and the AAP foundation’s teaching fellowship and multiple UTHSC Alumni grants. She serves as a faculty senator in UTHSC faculty senate and was inducted as a Fellow of International College of Dentists.