MHA | Texas Woman's University, Houston, 2007
Certificate in Dental Hygiene | UTHealth School of Dentistry at Houston, 1999
Diploma in Dentistry| Moscow State University of Medicine and Dentistry (formerly MMSI) | 1991
Dr. Victoria Patrounova is an Associate Professor in the Department of Periodontics and Dental Hygiene
Dr. Patrounova earned her dental degree in 1991 in Moscow, Russia; her Certificate in Dental Hygiene from UT Dental Branch in 1999, and her Master in Healthcare Administration from Texas Woman’s University in 2007. She joined the UTHealth faculty in 2009 after practicing dental hygiene in the Houston area for 10 years. She was the director of the Dental Hygiene Program at UTHealth School of Dentistry in 2021-24. Under her leadership, the MSDH program was opened, and the endowment and number of scholarships were expanded.
Dr. Patrounova is an active member of the American Dental Educators’ Association (ADEA), the American Dental Hygienists’ Association (ADHA), the Texas Dental Hygienists Association (TDHA), Dental Hygiene Educators of Texas Association (DHEAT), and Greater Houston Dental Hygienists’ Association (GHDHA). She has held leadership positions within these organizations, including serving as a chair for the ADEA Section on Substance Abuse, Addictions, and Tobacco Dependence Education, as a planning committee member of the ADEA Allied Dental Program Director Council, and as President of GHDHA.
Victoria Patrounova is a 2013 recipient of the Colgate ADEA ITL scholarship, the 2016 GHDHA Ester Wilkins Award, the 2017 and 2018 Dean’s Excellence Award, and the 2018 Procter & Gamble Teaching Excellence Award. She was also selected to participate in the 2019 ADEA Emerging Academic Leaders program.
In addition to teaching first- and second-year dental hygiene students, she presents continuing dental education courses. An accomplished speaker and an expert in smoking cessation, Dr. Patrounova has presented her CE courses at ADHA and TDHA annual conferences, RDH Under One Roof, and other regional and local professional meetings. Additionally, she has published numerous articles in dental and dental hygiene journals and contributed a chapter to a textbook.