Associate Professor and Director of Pediatric Dental Clinic
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Dr. Kyounga Cecilia Cheon is Associate Professor and Clinical Director of Finn Clinic in the Department of Pediatric dentistry at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Dr. Cheon graduated from Kyung Hee Dental University School of Dentistry at South Korea (D.M.D 1996) and was trained as an orthodontist at the Korean Orthodontic Research Institute (1999) and Pediatric Dentist (2010) at the UAB.
After the completion of her Residency Training (UAB Pediatric Dentistry) and Post-Doctoral Fellowship (NIDCR, T32 DART Program), Dr. Cheon has been establishing her research program in the field of pulp-dentin regeneration by integration of multidisciplinary team with the requisite expertise in dentistry, oral microbiology/immunology, stem cell biology, and biomedical engineering with her extensive research experience in the fields of Molecular-, Oral- and Micro-Biology. Her innovative and promising research effort was recognized by receiving the NIH/NIDCR-Loan Repayment Program award (2015-2016), NIH/NIDCR K08, Mentored Clinical Scientist Research Career Development (2017-2023), AADOCR Anne D. Haffajee Fellowship (2018), Pilot Grant UAB Global Center for Craniofacial, Oral and Dental Disorder (2019), and Alabama Research and Development Enhancement Fund (2022-2024) with publications.
Dr. Cheon has actively engaged in a series of didactic and clinical teaching for the dental profession at UAB since 2010. Her service efforts are ranged as a director of the pediatric clinic and community outreach development program, including Give Kids A Smile and TeamSmile (2018-current), an active member of numerous SOD committees, and UAB Faculty Senate. She served as a secretary (2017-2022) and president (2022-2023) for the AADOCR Alabama Section.