Shalizeh Azizi Patel DDS

Dr. Shalizeh A. “Shelly” Patel is an associate professor in the Department of Restorative Dentistry and Prosthodontics. After joining the faculty at The University of Texas School of Dentistry at Houston in 2008, she completed the Health Educators Fellowship Program, a multi-institutional course of study aimed at improving the teaching skills of medical and dental educators. She also recently concluded the ADEA Summer Program for Emerging Academic Leaders. Dr. Patel is the course director for Operative I and teaches Clinical Restorative Dentistry to second-, third- and fourth-year dental students. In addition, she designed a didactic, lab and clinic-based teaching curriculum in laser education at UTSD.

She is a principal investigator or collaborator in several research projects in the field of caries diagnosis/management, advances in teaching and learning, and laser dentistry. These efforts have led to scholarly publications, a textbook chapter, and several presentations at both state and national levels. In 2012 and 2015, Dr. Patel was recognized with Dean's Teaching Excellence Awards for “Innovation in Teaching” and the “Scholarship of Teaching,” respectively. She was the 2014 winner of the John H. Freeman Award for Faculty Teaching.