Dr. Paul L. Fidel, Jr. received his Ph.D. from the University of Oklahoma in 1988 in the discipline of microbiology/immunology. He then did a postdoc at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, Michigan in the department of Immunology and Microbiology. He was appointed Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Disease in 1990. In 1995, Dr. Fidel came to the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans at the rank of Associate Professor of Microbiology, Immunology, and Parasitology. He rose to the rank of Professor in 1999. In 2001 he was named recipient of the Carl Baldridge Endowed Chair in Oral and Craniofacial Biology and appointed the Director of the Center of Excellence in Oral and Craniofacial Biology and Associate Dean for Research at the LSU School of Dentistry. He has authored nearly 175 publications and has served as Principal Investigator for > 20 Investigator-Initiated or Center research grants totaling over $35 million (predominantly NIH).