About

Meet Interim Chancellor Murdoch-Kinch

Dr. Carol Anne Murdoch-Kinch was named interim chancellor of the IUPUI campus, effective June 19, 2023. Murdoch-Kinch began her tenure at Indiana University when she was named the 10th dean of the School of Dentistry in 2019, the first woman to serve in that role. Following her service as interim chancellor, Murdoch-Kinch will resume her responsibilities as dean.

A professor in the IU School of Dentistry, Murdoch-Kinch earned her D.D.S. from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada. After working in private practice, she pursued advanced dental specialty training in oral medicine and oral and maxillofacial radiology and her Ph.D. at Indiana University. At IU, she collaborated with faculty in the Department of Medical and Molecular Genetics and the Department of Anthropology, and this interprofessional experience provided the foundation upon which she has built her expertise in clinical dentistry, medicine, and research.

A rich history

Since its inception in 1969, IUPUI has been led by a series of visionary chancellors who have helped make it Indiana’s premier urban research campus.

Learn about IUPUI’s past chancellors

Following her graduate work at IU, Murdoch-Kinch joined the faculty of the School of Dentistry at the University of Detroit Mercy, then joined the faculty of the University of Michigan School of Dentistry. There she served as associate dean for academic affairs, clinical professor, and the inaugural Dr. Walter H. Swartz Professor of Integrated Special Care Dentistry. She led the campus team representing seven health sciences schools that established the Center for Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Care at Michigan, was responsible for curricular innovations at the School of Dentistry that elevated engaged learning pedagogies, expanded community-based service learning and leadership development activities, and studied ways to improve culture and climate in dental education.

In these and other roles, Murdoch-Kinch has advanced collaborative approaches to care, including developing educational and care programs for those with disabilities and complex medical conditions, conducting multidisciplinary clinical research in oncology, and establishing a hospital-based oral medicine referral practice in which dental and medical residents co-treated patients with oral manifestations of skin diseases. In all of these cases, Murdoch-Kinch has put the health and well-being of patients front and center.

Since being named dean of the IU School of Dentistry, Murdoch-Kinch steered the school through the COVID-19 pandemic and has led growth in the school’s research portfolio, increased clinic efficiencies, expanded student services to address the holistic needs of students, and secured needed renovations and improvements to facilities.

Murdoch-Kinch is a diplomate of the American Board of Oral Medicine. She is a fellow of the American College of Dentists and the Royal College of Surgeons (Edinburgh). She has served as president of the American Board of Oral Medicine, commissioner for the Commission on Dental Accreditation, associate editor of the Journal of the American Dental Association, and member of the American Dental Education Association. Murdoch-Kinch received the IU Bicentennial Medal in August 2019 in recognition of her distinguished service as dean of the Indiana University School of Dentistry.

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