Kimon Divaris first came to UNC-Chapel Hill in 2005 as a PhD student in pediatric dentistry and epidemiology. Now he serves as the James W. Bawden Distinguished Professor of Pediatric Dentistry and chair of the Department of Pediatric Dentistry and Dental Public Health within the UNC Adams School of Dentistry. He also holds an adjunct faculty position in the Department of Epidemiology within the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health.

Divaris studies why some children are more vulnerable to tooth decay than others by examining the clinical, environmental, and biological factors — including genes and bacteria — that shape oral health.

What brought you to Carolina?

I came to Carolina to receive world-class training, but I stayed for the community and mentorship that defined my early career.

In 2007, I moved to Chapel Hill from Athens, Greece, to pursue a unique educational opportunity that few other places in the world could offer: a combined training program in pediatric dentistry and a doctorate in epidemiology. I was drawn by the reputation of both the Adams School of Dentistry and the Gillings School of Global Public Health, two world-leading institutions in their areas.

On my first visit in the spring of 2005, I was already aware of the groundbreaking work that was being done at UNC-Chapel Hill. It was the place to be for anyone who aspired to be in an environment that combines outstanding clinical care for individual children with investigating the broader biological and social underpinnings of their health. During my training at Gillings, I also completed a graduate certificate in Global Health, and that aligned well with my affinity for international collaborations and outreach.

How has your role here changed over the years?

My journey has been a full evolution through the academic ranks and from learning to leading. I started as a resident and graduate student, focused on mastering clinical skills, behavior guidance, and research design and methods. Over time, I transitioned to a faculty role, where I built my own research program, supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and internal funding. Now, as a department chair, my role is primarily about stewardship, development, and mentorship.

While I still maintain some hands-on clinical, data analysis, and field-based research, I tend to spend more time orchestrating large-scale, interdisciplinary teams and, most importantly, mentoring the next generation of investigators, students, residents, faculty, and clinician-scientists. I’ve gone from benefitting from the guidance of my senior colleagues, to being the one privileged enough to provide it. As of March 2026, I am honored to begin a four-year term on the board of the American Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research. In this role, I hope to translate our philosophy to the national and international stage and expand the mission of mentoring the next generation of investigators and clinician-scientists.

What’s kept you at Carolina?

There are many reasons, but the primary ones are the people and the culture of collaboration. We frequently refer to this culture as Carolina’s “low stone walls.” There are virtually no barriers between disciplines and collaboration comes naturally. I can walk across the street to the medicine, nursing, pharmacy, or public health schools and find world-class experts eager to partner on a new idea.

That spirit of collegiality, combined with our shared public mission to serve the people of North Carolina and beyond, makes this a uniquely rewarding place to work. I enjoy our work every single day, and it is the interactions with our staff, trainees, and colleagues that make the difference. We don’t just do research that will result in high-impact journal articles; our collective research tangibly improves lives in our state.

What contribution are you most proud of?

I am most proud of leading the ZOE 2.0 (Zero-Out Early Childhood Caries) study. This was a large-scale, NIH-funded project where we sought to understand the biological, genetic, and environmental causes of tooth decay in preschool-aged children across the state. The project was an evolution of the ZOE study led by Gary Rozier that I worked as a research assistant on.

Our ZOE 2.0 team assembled a “precision oral health” multi-ethnic community-based cohort of 3- to 5-year-old children that is one of the largest of its kind in the world. The study has enabled more recent, innovative investigations that use new research methods to look at many biological clues all together and help explain why some kids get cavities while others don’t.

Beyond the science, I am proud of the community engagement that naturally emerged from this study. I will be eternally grateful to our staff for carrying out the monumental task of recruiting more than 8,000 children over a 30-month period and performing clinical examinations and biospecimen collection for more than 6,000 of them across the state. It was a true team effort that advanced science while directly serving North Carolina families and our community partners, many of whom we still collaborate with.

What is a uniquely Carolina experience you’ve had?

Our team traveled over 180,000 miles across North Carolina for the ZOE 2.0 study to connect with local preschool educators, staff, and families. It was an experience I will never forget. Our team and I drove to 86 of the state’s 100 counties, communicating the goals of the study, enrolling families, delivering oral health education, and setting up portable dental research clinics in public preschools from the mountains to the coast.

Seeing the Carolina blue sky on those long road trips and being welcomed into communities because we represented UNC-Chapel Hill, a trusted institution, gave me a profound appreciation for our university and the role we play in the state. It is a beautiful reminder that we are the University for North Carolina, and our campus isn’t just in Chapel Hill — it’s the entire state.