Apoena Aguiar Ribeiro, DDS, MS, PhD

Apoena De Aguiar Ribeiro is a Pediatric Dentist and Microbiologist. She was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Among her 25 years of teaching, Ribeiro most recently served as a tenured associate professor in the Fluminense Federal University, Department of Pediatric Dentistry and Cariology for 12 years, with a joint appointment at the Department of Microbiology for 5 years, in Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil. Prior to that role, she was an associate professor in the Grande Rio University Department of Pediatric Dentistry and Cariology for 8 years. During this time, she has also maintained a part-time role in a solo dental practice for 22 years, devoted to provide oral health to infants, children, adolescents and children with special needs. She is the author of a full book of Pediatric Dentistry (Pediatric Dentistry – A contemporary approach, GEN Editor, Brazil) and has published more than 50 papers in peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Ribeiro had successfully obtained 5 grants as a Principal Investigator in Brazil.

In August 2018, Dr. Ribeiro began her appointment as an associate professor in the Department of Diagnostic Sciences at the UNC Adams School of Dentistry, and in 2024 she was promoted to Tenured Professor. In her role at the UNC Adams School of Dentistry, she provides didactic teaching to pre-doctoral students and graduate students, committee service and research, including mentoring students in research projects. Her research interests include translational science, with focus on the oral microbiome communities and their metabolic profiles as determinants in oral and systemic health, mainly on dental caries in children and adolescents.