DDS | UT Health San Antonio School of Dentistry, 2001
MEd | University of Houston, 2019
Dr. Shalizeh A. “Shelly” Patel is the associate dean for patient care. Dr. Patel is also a professor in the Department of Restorative Dentistry and Prosthodontics. She teaches clinical restorative dentistry to dental students and designs didactic, lab, and clinic-based teaching curriculum in operative dentistry, simulation, and laser dentistry. Dr. Patel served as director of clinical simulation from July 2016 to June 2022.
She is principal investigator/collaborator/mentor in several research projects in the field of caries diagnosis/management, advances in teaching and learning, laser dentistry and virtual reality in health care. These efforts have led to scholarly publications, a textbook chapter, and countless presentations at state, national and international levels.
Dr. Patel is a 2019 recipient of the ADEA/Colgate-Palmolive Co. Excellence in Teaching Award and the Academy of Laser Dentistry’s T.H. Maiman Award for Excellence in Laser Research. In 2020, she was inducted into The University of Texas Kenneth I. Shine, MD, Academy of Health Science Education and recognized as a Distinguished Teaching Professor by UTHealth.
At UTSD, Dr. Patel has also been recognized with the John H. Freeman Award for Faculty Teaching (2014), Dean’s Excellence Awards for Teaching (2012, 2015), Dean’s Excellence Award for Mentoring (2019) and Dean's Excellence Award for Application (2020). Dr. Patel has completed both the ADEA Leadership Institute and the UTHealth Health Educators Fellowship Program. In 2019, she earned a master’s degree in education, curriculum, and instruction in health science education from the University of Houston.