Otago Student Recognised at IADR Conference

September 2011

In late September this year Inah Kim, a fifth year dental student, came runner up in the Colgate competition (Junior Category) at the Australia and New Zealand meeting of the International Association for Dental Research (IADR) in Melbourne, Australia.

Inah carried out a research project to describe three-dimensional mandibular growth using cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT). She developed an animal model system to superimpose 3D data sets and an initial 3D analysis of mandibular growth in a rabbit model. Her abstract is available here.

Her research was selected by the New Zealand branch of the IADR to compete in the Australasian IADR poster competition. She has been awarded a travel grant from Colgate to present her research in the 90th general session to be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in June 2012. Here she will present her study amongst top dental students selected from North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

Her research was supported by a University of Otago Division of Health Sciences Summer Studentship, and funding from Education and Research Development Group (ERDG), from the New Zealand Association of Orthodontists (NZAO). In the last general session Grace Lee, also from Otago University, won the top research prize at the international conference.