Trauger named interim director of OHCRC

 Kelli Trauger, MSDH ’20, BSDH ’14, DH, RF, became interim director of the School of Dentistry’s Oral Health Clinical Research Center (OHCRC), effective July 1.

Trauger joined the University of Minnesota in 2006 as a Division I student-athlete on the Gopher Women’s Hockey Program. A TRIO McNair Scholar, she received her Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology in 2011 and her Bachelor of Science in Dental Hygiene in 2014. She completed a Master of Science in Dental Hygiene Education in 2020. She served as a teaching specialist for the College of Education and Human Development with the School of Kinesiology.

Trauger has served in a variety of professional capacities at the School of Dentistry. She began working in the clinical setting in 2012, first as a clinical photographer before serving as a dental hygienist in Faculty Practice Orthodontics, the Department of Primary Dental Care and the Cleft and Craniofacial Clinic. She has been a clinical assistant professor of dental hygiene and periodontology and a researcher, also serving on the Dental Hygiene Scholarship Committee, the Admissions Committee and the Diversity Committee. She has been an actively involved member of the American Dental Hygienists’ Association, the American Dental Education Association, and the Minnesota Dental Hygienists’ Association, where she served as Vice President from 2020-2021.

Trauger has spent five years in the OHCRC, advancing from researcher to project manager and study manager. She has extensive expertise in human subject research, regulatory compliance and clinical trials. As a dental expert and now as the center’s leader, she collaborates with principal investigators to design, provide coordination oversight and execute complex clinical trials while managing fiscal and compliance requirements.

Trauger becomes interim director of the center following the tenure of Eric Schiffman, DDS, MS. “I am confident that she will lead the OHCRC well in its mission to enhance oral health by transferring basic and applied research knowledge and new technical advances into patient-oriented research,” shared Interim Dean Kristin Bruk Artinger, PhD, in an email to the school community. “Please join me in welcoming her to this role.”