Friday, April 11, 2025
The University of Florida College of Dentistry is proud to announce our 2025 Spring Synergy Research Day will take place at the J. Wayne Reitz Union on the University of Florida campus. We hope you’ll join us for this year’s Robert L. Kaplan Scholar and Research Keynote addresses, our poster presentations and vendor fair.
Brought to you by the College of Dentistry Office of Research, Continuing Education, the American Student Dental Association (ASDA) — and supported by the Robert L. Kaplan Visiting Professorship Fund — Spring Synergy promotes the college’s many research accomplishments and provides a venue to learn through CE, and interact with the campus community, alumni and industry professionals.
Register for CE Presentations
2025 Robert L. Kaplan Scholar Keynote Address
Dr. Nate Lawson | Associate Professor, UAB School of Dentistry
Presentation: “Everything You Need to Know About Zirconia in Dentistry”

Nate Lawson, D.M.D., M.A., Ph.D., is the Director of the Division of Biomaterials at the UAB School of Dentistry. He is a researcher who has published over 200 articles, abstracts, book chapters and periodicals related to dental materials. He is also a clinician who uses new types of dental materials to asses their strengths and shortcomings in his practice. Finally, he is an educator who is passionate about presenting dental materials in a light that is more understandable and exciting than you may have been taught in dental school.
Research Interests: Laboratory testing of biomaterials including mechanical, applied, esthetic, surface and bioactive properties; Clinical testing of biomaterials including Class V retention studies, Direct restoration studies and bleaching studies.
2025 Research Keynote
Dr. Roger Fillingim | Distinguished Professor, UF College of Dentistry
Presentation: “The Many Faces of Pain: 25 Years of Collaborative Pain Research at UFCD”

Roger Fillingim, Ph.D., joined the UF College of Dentistry in 2000 and is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Community Dentistry and Behavioral Science. He’s the Director of UF’s Pain Research and Intervention Center of Excellence, a multi-college center of excellence that serves as the professional home for UF scientists, clinicians and trainees dedicated to improved understanding and treatment of pain. Fillingim additionally serves as UFCD’s Associate Dean of Planning and Institutional Effectiveness focusing on assessment, evaluation of outcomes, strategic planning, data-informed decision-making and continuous improvement. He was recently inducted into the prestigious Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine of Florida, highlighting a career in world-renowned pain research, honoring his substantial advancement of the understanding of individuals’ differences in pain, and recognizing his outstanding service and leadership locally and nationally.
Research Interests: Fillingim’s research investigates biological, social and psychological factors that may influence the experience of pain – perhaps the most widespread and expensive health problem in the United States. One major area of focus for Fillingim’s research is how women and men experience pain differently. He served as president of the American Pain Society in 2012-2013 and has been an active leader for many years through multiple leadership roles and, in 2009, he received the APS Wilbert E. Fordyce Clinical Investigator Award for his clinical pain scholarship and research achievements. In 2017, he received a Distinguished Service Award to recognize his outstanding and dedicated service to the society.
Dr. Robert L. Kaplan’s Legacy

Spring Synergy and the Robert L. Kaplan Scholar presentation are annually supported by the Robert L. Kaplan Visiting Professorship Fund. Robert L. Kaplan, D.D.S., past president of the American Academy of Restorative Dentistry, was the chairman of the Dental Advisory Committee in 1969 that was instrumental in making the case to the Florida Legislature for a dental school in the state of Florida, thus playing a critical role in establishing our college. The South Florida Dental Association sponsored a campaign to establish the visiting professorship honoring Dr. Kaplan after he passed away in 1989.
Dr. Kaplan was the keynote speaker at our college’s first commencement ceremony in 1976. View a copy of his speech.