Darien Weatherspoon, DDS, MPH
Dr. Weatherspoon is a graduate of the University of Maryland School of Dentistry (UMSOD). After receiving his DDS, he completed an Advanced Education in General Dentistry residency and received his MPH in Epidemiology from the University of Michigan. He then completed a residency program in Dental Public Health at the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), and is a current Diplomate of the American Board of Dental Public Health. Prior to joining the faculty at UMSOD, he was previously a Program Official at NIDCR where he oversaw a diverse portfolio of research grants as the Program Director of the Oral Health Disparities and Inequities Research Program. He was previously an Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Dentistry in the Division of Prevention and Public Health Sciences, where he helped to administer the College's extramural service-learning program and taught dental public health course-content.
Dr. Weatherspoon's educational areas of interest include: dental public health, health equity, epidemiology, prevention, health promotion, social determinants of health, and interprofessional education and practice.
He is interested in research that aims to eliminate oral health disparities and inequities, improve access to care, and improve the oral health of older adults. His research is currently supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Selected Publications:
1. Smith P, Thullen M, Evans CA, Koerber A, Weatherspoon DJ. Benefits and challenges to partner site engagement with community-based dental education programs: the partner sites’ perspectives. Journal of Dental Education. 2019 Sep;83(9):1012-1018.
2. Sukotjo C, Khan A, Yuan JC, Afshari F, Weatherspoon D, Wee AG. Research productivity of directors of U.S. advanced education in prosthodontics programs. Journal of Dental Education. 2018 Dec;82(12):1320-1326.
3. Dye BA, Weatherspoon DJ, Lopez Mitnik G. Tooth loss among older adults according to poverty status in the United States from 1999 through 2004 and 2009 through 2014. Journal of the American Dental Association. Jan;150(1):9-23.e3. Epub 2018 Nov 29.
4. Mitchual S, Raja S, da Fonseca MA, Weatherspoon DJ, Koerber A. The association between childhood traumatic stress and behavior in the pediatric dental clinic. Pediatric Dentistry. 2017 May 15;39(3):203-208.
5. LeHew CW, Weatherspoon DJ, Peterson CE, Goben A, Reitmajer K, Sroussi H, Kaste LM. The health system and policy implications of changing epidemiology for oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancers in the United States from 1995 to 2016. Epidemiologic Reviews. 2017 Jan 1;39(1):132-147.
6. Weatherspoon DJ, Horowitz AM, Kleinman DV. Maryland physicians’ knowledge, opinions, and practices related to dental caries etiology and prevention in children. Pediatric Dentistry. 2016;38(1):61-
7. Weatherspoon DJ, Borrell LN, Johnson CW, Mujahid MS, Neighbors HW, Adar SD. Racial and ethnic differences in self-reported periodontal disease in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). Oral Health and Preventive Dentistry. 2016;14(3):249-57.
8. Weatherspoon DJ, Chattopadhyay A, Boroumand S, Garcia I. Oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancer trends and disparities in the United States: 2000-2010. Cancer Epidemiology. 2015 Aug;39(4):497-504.
9. Chattopadhyay A, Weatherspoon D, Pinto A. Human papillomavirus and oral cancer- a primer for dental public health. Community Dental Health. 2015 Jun;32(2):117-28.
10. Weatherspoon DJ, Horowitz AM, Kleinman DV, Wang MQ. The use of recommended communication techniques by Maryland family physicians and pediatricians. PLoS One. 2015 Apr 9;10(4):e0119855.
11. Chattopadhyay A, Weatherspoon D, Pinto A. Public health implications of Human papillomavirus oral infection: a brief overview. Current Oral Health Reports 2014; 1:143-147.