Lawrence P. Garetto

Biography

Dr. Lawrence Garetto graduated from the University of California, San Diego’s Revelle College in 1975 with a B.A. in Biology. He received his M.S. degree in 1979 and Ph.D. degree in physiology from Boston University School of Medicine in 1984. His research at that time centered on hormonal control of skeletal muscle fuel metabolism during recovery from exercise. Following this, he completed a four-year fellowship in the Department of Biological Chemistry at the University of California, Davis School of Medicine investigating enzyme regulation by calcium and protein phosphorylation. During this time, Dr. Garetto was awarded a Gianinni Foundation Medical Research Fellowship in 1985 and a National Institutes of Health Fellowship in 1986. Dr. Garetto moved to Indiana University School of Dentistry in 1988 where he served as director of the Bone Research Laboratory (1988-1999) and was a co-investigator on multiple grants from NASA and NIH. Clinically, his principal research interests concerned the local physiological control of bone remodeling during long-term maintenance of endosseous implants. He was particularly interested the role that remodeling played in controlling the material and mechanical properties of bone. Academically, Dr. Garetto served as Associate Dean for Dental Education and Director of the Problem-Based Learning program at the School of Dentistry from 2004 to 2011. He was the founding Chair of the IUSD Professional Conduct Committee and continues to serve as advisor to the Student Professional Conduct Committee, a peer review group in the School of Dentistry. He also serves as the advisor to IUSD’s Student Professionalism and Ethics Club and to the newly formed Student Professionalism and Ethics Association. Dr. Garetto is a Past-President of the American Society for Dental Ethics. He has represented the Society as Liaison to the Board of Regents of the American College of Dentists since 2008. Currently, Dr. Garetto is jointly appointed as Professor of Oral Pathology, Medicine and Radiology at Indiana University School of Dentistry and Professor of Cellular/Integrative Physiology at the Indiana University School of Medicine. His scholarly work centers on the early development of critical thinking/clinical reasoning skills and on professional ethics.

Research Interest

Oral Pathology, Medicine and Radiology