Postdoctoral associate Marit Aure, PhD, of the Center for Oral Biology in the
Eastman Institute for Oral Health and member of Catherine Ovitt's lab, tied for first
place at the highly-competitive International Association for Dental Research/Johnson & Johnson Hatton Awards
Competition held recently in Cape Town, South Africa.
The judges determined that the science presented by Aure and Joo-young Park, affiliated with the National Cancer
Institute/National Institutes of Health, was exemplary in both projects, surpassing 36 other researchers from around
the world in their category. There was no second place winner.
Aure had qualified for the international competition by earning second place in the American Association of Dental
Research/Johnson & Johnson Hatton Awards Competition, held in Charlotte, North Carolina in March. For the
international round of the competition, all participants were required to condense the research talk into a
four-slide, 10-minute presentation to be given in front of three judges.
Telling the whole story in 10 minutes and four slides was especially challenging,
said Aure, who said the
poker-faced judges had some very tough questions. My reaction to winning was a mix of surprise, excitement and joy!
It feels really good to get positive feedback and exposure for the salivary research we’re doing.