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Student receives fellowship in support of dual degrees  by Heather Woolwine Public Relations When Gabrielle Ferguson Cannick was a little girl, she knew that she would become a dentist; after all, it was in her blood. Her father, Larry J. Ferguson, DMD, graduated from the MUSC College of Dental Medicine in 1979. But instead of pursuing a private practice career, Cannick’s interests have a more modern appeal, as she wants to not only pursue a degree in dental medicine but also a doctorate in epidemiological research. A dual degree candidate and fourth year College of Dental Medicine student/College of Graduate Studies student, she is the most recent recipient of the Individual Predoctoral Dental Scientist Fellowship awarded by the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) and received financial support for her research pertaining to dental students’ knowledge, attitudes, and practices of oral cancer prevention and early detection. Gabrielle Ferguson Cannick “When I took a preventive dentistry course my first year of dental school, I became particularly interested in prevention and public health,” Cannick said. “Of course, my interest in public health led me to epidemiology. I feel it’s a wonderful avenue within dentistry because you’re not only affecting individuals’ health practices and behaviors, but public health is population-based so you impact entire communities.” Desiring to make a career of linking oral and systemic health, Cannick became involved in research conducted by Sue Reed, DDS, Dr.PH, College of Dental Medicine/Stomatology, and Terry Day, M.D., Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery in 2002.  Initially the group sent out a survey to medical and dental students asking questions about their knowledge, attitudes, and practices concerning oral cancer. What they found was that the students were not very knowledgeable but were eager to learn more. After completing a one-year research rotation at the NIDCR, Cannick now plans to take the next step and will help develop an intervention geared at students’ oral cancer prevention and early detection skills. The idea is to evaluate the students before and after the intervention and see if their attitudes, practices and knowledge change.  Cannick can spend the next four years working on her research worry-free thanks to the fellowship which covers her school costs as well as providing a yearly stipend. She plans to integrate her research within dental classes when she returns full-time to the dental school. For now Cannick is excited to be a part of the Department of Biostatistics, Bioinformatics, and Epidemiology. Along with Reed and Day, her dissertation committee members are Biostatistics, Bioinformatics and Epidemiology faculty Dan Lackland, Dr.PH, and Robert Wilson, Ph.D., plus Alice Horowitz, Ph.D., NIDCR.  Cannick looks forward to spending more time with her husband, Leander Cannick III, M.D., also a graduate of MUSC and currently serving with the Navy as a physician in Iraq.  Cannick will pursue a dental public health residency after graduation and hopes to return to academia as a researcher and clinician in dental medicine upon completing her residency.          Friday, April 1, 2005 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to petersnd@musc.edu or catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Community Press at 849-1778.