Joy Richman

DMD, MDentSci, PhD, FRCDC

Investigator and Pediatric Dentist, BC Children's Hospital
Director, Graduate Program in Pediatric Dentistry

I am a Pediatric Dentist based at BCCH department of dentistry. I am also the director of the graduate program in Pediatric Dentistry which trains specialists. My research is in the area of developmental malformations that affect the face and teeth. I am particularly focused on the causes of cleft lip with or without cleft palate which affects 1 in 700 babies. Facial clefting is one of the most common birth defects and in the majority of cases, the clefts occur in otherwise healthy babies. Therefore, the causes are complex and difficult to attribute to genetic mutations. I study the environmental effects that predispose an individual to developing a cleft. I primarily use the chicken embryo for this research because I can test the role of specific genes and growth factors in facial development directly in the egg. In addition, I do clinical research on human fetal development and changes to delivery of dental services during the Covid-19 pandemic.