Dr. DePaola is the Associate Dean of Clinical Affairs and Professor within the Department of Oncology & Diagnostic Sciences, at the University of Maryland School of Dentistry in Baltimore. He received his DDS in 1975. Soon after he completed a master’s degree in Oral Biology. He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Oral Medicine, the American College of Dentists, and the International College of Dentists. Dr. DePaola also has a Certificate in Prosthodontics. He is the director of dental training for the Mid-Atlantic AIDS Education and Training Center and served as a member of the ADA Council of Scientific Affairs from 2002-2005.

From 1998 to 2002, Dr. DePaola served at the National Institute for Dental and Craniofacial Research, Division of Extramural Research of the National Institutes of Health to help develop dental treatment guidelines for patients with HIV/AIDS and infection control practices to protect both patients and practitioners from the transmission of infectious diseases in the dental office. Dr. DePaola serves as a dental and infection control consultant for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the State of Maryland Departments of Corrections. In 2015, Governor Hogan appointed him to the Maryland State Board of Dental Examiners, and he was reappointed for another term in 2020.

Dr. DePaola is well-known on the lecture circuit. He has presented at most major national meetings, as well as numerous international organizations. Active in research, he has authored and co-authored over 130 journal articles, book chapters, and abstracts. He serves as a consultant to the American Dental Association and numerous professional and private industry groups. He is the editor of the Book Infection Control in the Dental Office: A global Prospective published in 2020 and Infection Control in the Dental Office in the Era of COVID-19 to be published in 2024. Over the past 20 years, he has been awarded over 75 research and service grants, many in the field of antiplaque chemotherapeutic agents, HIV/AIDS, management of medically compromised dental patients, rapid salivary diagnostic testing, dental unit waterlines and infection control. Dr. DePaola was the recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus for Public Service in 2021 and the MSDA Presidential Award for Distinguished Service during the COVIC-19 pandemic.