M. John Novak, BDS, LDS, PhD, is professor of Periodontics and associate director of the Center for Oral Health Research at the University of Kentucky, School of Dentistry, Lexington. He has published more than 100 papers and abstracts in the field of periodontology and is one of the authors of the Obstetrics and Periodontal Therapy Trial in the New England Journal of Medicine. In 2007, he received the American Academy of Periodontology's Clinical Research Award. Novak has worked with the March of Dimes for several years and is currently a council member of the organization's "Healthy Babies Are Worth the Wait" campaign.