Profile
Diana V. Messadi, D.D.S., M.M.SC., D.M.SC.
- (310) 206-7399
UCLA School of Dentistry
10833 Le Conte Ave.
Box 951668
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1668
Diana Messadi, D.D.S., M.M.Sc., D.M.Sc. is a professor and Chair of the Section of Oral Medicine, Oral Pathology, and Orofacial Pain at the UCLA School of Dentistry. She previously served as the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.
Dr. Messadi received her Bachelor of Dental Surgery (B.D.S., D.D.S), in 1979 from the Faculty of Dentistry, Alexandria University, Egypt. From 1979-1980 she was a Dental Intern in Alexandria University Faculty of Dentistry. In 1980, she was appointed as a Lecturer in the Oral Pathology Department at Alexandria University Faculty of Dentistry. In 1982 she traveled to the USA to pursue her postdoctoral training; she obtained a Master of Medical Sciences, (MMSc) (1985) from Harvard School of Dental Medicine, a Certificate in Oral Pathology and Oral Medicine (1985) from Harvard School of Dental Medicine. And a Doctorate of Medical Sciences in Oral Biology, (DMSc) in 1987, also from Harvard School of Dental Medicine. Her Doctorate thesis won the HSDM James Shaw Award for the most outstanding thesis in the biomedical sciences submitted that year. From 1987-1989, she went back to Egypt and was appointed as an Assistant Professor of Oral Pathology at the Faculty of Dentistry, Alexandria University. In 1989 she came back to the USA with her husband and she started working at UCLA School of Dentistry. She served as Chair of the Section of Oral Medicine and Orofacial Pain from 2002-2018, she also served as Associate Dean for Education and Faculty Development from 2015-2018. She is currently Professor and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. From 2009-2010 she participated in the Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) Fellowship. From 2015-2017 she participated in a Medical Education Fellowship at UCLA School of Medicine and earned a certificate in 2017.
As a dentist-scientist, Dr. Messadi’s approach to teaching has always focused on bridging the biomedical sciences with the clinical sciences. Her major teaching responsibilities are in the fields of oral medicine and oral oncology. She has been actively involved in didactic and clinical teaching for both pre-doctoral and post-doctoral students, she chairs several courses in the “Oral and Systemic Diseases Track” which integrate biomedical and dental sciences in areas of disease diagnosis and management.
- Eoon Hye Ji, Naseim Elzakra, Eon S Lee, Bingbing Sun, Diana Messadi, Tian Xia, Yifang Zhu, Shen Hu. E-cigarette aerosols induce unfolded protein response in normal human oral keratinocytes. Journal of Cancer; Vol. 10: 6915-6924, 2019
- Martín Carreras-Presas C, Naeim M, Hsiou D, Somacarrera Pérez ML, Messadi DV. The need to educate future dental professionals on E-cigarette effects. Eur J Dent Educ.; 22:e751–e758; 2018_
- Diana V. Messadi; Mark Macek; Daniela Markovic; Kathryn A. Atchison. Oral Health Literacy, Preventive Behavior Measures and Chronic Medical Conditions. Journal Dent Res Clin and Trans Res. 3 (3): 288-301, 2018
- Ji, Eoon Hye; Diep, Cynthia; Liu, Tong; Li, Hong; Messadi, Diana; Hu, Shen. Potential protein biomarkers for burning mouth syndrome discovered by quantitative proteomics. Molecular Pain, 13: 1–8, 2017
- Diana V. Messadi. Oral Cancer: Novel Concepts for the Oral Health Care Practitioner. CDA J : 44 (2): 82-84, 2016
- Diana V. Messadi and Kazumichi Sato. Oral Cancer Chemoprevention: Current Status and Future Direction. CDA J. 44 (2): 101-111, 2016
- Tumouh Al Allaq, Terrie DeBord, Honghu Liu, Xin Ye and Diana V. Messadi. Oral Health Status of Individuals with Cerebral Palsy at a Nationally Recognized Rehabilitation Center. Spec Care Dentist 35(1): 15-21, 2015
- Diana V. Messadi, Fariba S Younai, Honghu Liu, Gao Guo and Cun-Yu Wang. The Clinical Effectiveness of Reflectance Optical Spectroscopy for the In Vivo Diagnosis of Oral Lesions. Int J of Oral Sciences 6 (3): 162-167, 2014
- Gironda, M; Bibb, C; Lefever K; Law, C and Messadi DV. A Program to Recruit and Mentor Future Academic Dentists: Successes and Challenges. J American Dental Educ. 77 (3): 292-299, 2013
- Diana V. Messadi. Diagnostic Aids for Detection of Oral Precancerous Conditions. Int J of Oral Sciences. 5 (2): 59-65, 2013
Courses Taught:
- Co-Chair: Foundation Course (DS 100)
- Chair Oral Diseases 1 (OSD 201)
- Instructor: OSD 103 (System I) ; OSD 202 (Oral Diseases 2)
- Co-Chair DS 300.4 Postgraduate Seminars in Oral Pathology
- Instructor: CL 403.5 Oral Diagnosis Clinic
- Co-Chair: CL 404.5 Oral Medicine Clinic
- B.D.S., D.D.S. (with distinction), Alexandria University, 1979
- M.M.Sc., Harvard University (Oral Biology), 1985
- Certificate, Harvard University (Oral Pathology Residency), 1985
- D.M.Sc., Harvard University (Oral Biology), 1987
- Certificate, UCLA, Division of Geriatrics and Gerontology, 2003
- Certificate, Medical Education Fellowship , UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, 2017
Dr. Messadi has written over 75 research articles and review papers, 15 book chapters and 92 abstracts. She is the recipient of several NIH grants and private Foundations grants to study the effect of growth factors on wound healing and role of apoptosis in keloid formation, recently she completed an NIH/NIDCR R25 education grant to train dentals students for academic dental careers. Her clinical research focuses on new diagnostic tools for detection of oral precancerous and cancerous lesions and clinical trials on oral cancer chemoprevention, early detection, oral cancer risk assessment and using Telehealth for delivery of care especially in underserved population. She also mentors several undergraduate, predental and postdoctoral students for their research projects.
- Serves on MILA, FEC Committees and the Student Awards Committee, campus wide Academic Senate, Council on Research (COR) committee, reviewer for School of Dentistry faculty and student intramural grants.
- Referee for a number of science journals including Journal of Dental Research (JDR), J National Medical Association, Triple O, CDA and International J of Cancer, Carcinogenesis, J of Investigative Dermatology.
- Fellow of the Salzburg Seminar Session # 266 “Aids Confronting an Epidemic”.
- Fellow of the ELAM Fellowship.
- Memberships in the American Academy of Oral Medicine, the Western, California and American Dental Associations, the International and American Associations of Dental Research, the American Academy of Oral & Maxillofacial Pathology, and Johnsson Comprehensive Cancer Center.