Modupe (“Dupe”) Coker, MD, PhD is Assistant Dean for Clinical and Translational Research and Associate Professor in the Department of Basic and Translational Sciences at Penn Dental Medicine. She is a dentist–scientist with advanced training in public health and epidemiology whose research focuses on the developing human oral and gut microbiome in infants, children, and adolescents, with particular emphasis on how biological, clinical, and social factors shape health across the life course. Dr. Coker has led impactful studies examining the effects of HIV infection on oral microbial communities and their links to dental caries, oral HPV infection, inflammation, neuro-cognitive outcomes, and brain health. Her work integrates clinical phenotyping with advanced multi-omics approaches to better understand mechanisms underlying disease risk and resilience.
As a translational scientist and research leader, Dr. Coker directs and manages multidisciplinary teams across local, interstate, and international settings, implementing clinical, laboratory, and community-engaged research. Her program emphasizes the analysis and integration of large, multidimensional omics datasets to generate actionable insights that inform prevention, early intervention, and therapeutic strategies. She holds a PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Maryland School of Medicine and a Master of Public Health from Johns Hopkins University.