Deborah Dilbone, D.M.D., was appointed permanent chair of the University of Florida Department of Restorative Dental Sciences effective April 16, 2018. Dilbone has been serving as interim chair of the department since May 2016.
“Dr. Dilbone has done an outstanding job proactively leading the teaching, research, service and clinical activities of the department and assisting in the career development and mentoring of RDS faculty. Looking forward, she will continue her focus on aligning the mission of the department and its divisions, creating processes and policies that can help guide their work, and developing methods for coordination and regular communications among the three divisions and directors. In addition, Dr. Dilbone will work closely with me, human resources and finance to meet the needs of the department including faculty recruitment and retention,” said A. Isabel Garcia, D.D.S., M.S., dean.
Dilbone earned her dental degree from UF in 1993 and became a visiting professor in the UF Department of Prosthodontics in 1994 and a clinical instructor in the Department of Operative Dentistry in 1997. She taught in the International Educated Dentists Program, or IEDP, from 1997 through 2008 and in operative clinical and preclinical courses with dental students from their first through their fourth years since that time. Dilbone worked in private practice before joining the IEDP program. She served the college as the director for the Division of Operative Dentistry from 2012 through 2016.
Dilbone serves on many college committees and is the course director for Dental Anatomy and the Stomatognathic System. She is the college’s liaison for the American Dental Education Association’s, or ADEA, Commission on Change and Innovation in Dental Education and serves on the Practitioner Advisory Committee for the National Dental Practice-Based Research Network’s South Atlantic Region. She was a fellow of the 2017-2018 ADEA Leadership Institute and was recently named the 2017 ADEA/ADEAGies Foundation Drs. Connie L. and Richard R. Drisko Scholar in the ADEA Leadership Institute.
She is an active member of many local, state, national and international dental organizations including the Academy of Operative Dentistry, American Dental Association, International Association for Dental Research, Omicron Kappa Upsilon and the Consortium of Operative Dental Educators. She is passionate about education and works diligently to improve the educational experience and learning outcomes of our students. Her research interests focus on education, cariology and improving overall health assessments of patients.
“I am very grateful that Dr. Dilbone has agreed to accept this critical leadership position. She has infused the department with her sense of energy and positive outlook and is truly making a difference,” Garcia said.