Fotinos Panagakos
Founding Dean of the School of Dental Medicine
Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences in Yakima, WA
Dr. Panagakos received his DMD from UMDNJ-New Jersey Dental School (now Rutgers University School of Dental Medicine) and his Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from UMDNJ-Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (now the Rutgers University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences) in 1992. He received his Master’s in Education from Seton Hall University in 1999 and his Master’s in Business Administration from Lehigh University in 2007.
Dr. Panagakos was a full-time faculty member at New Jersey Dental School for 13 years, holding several administrative positions, including Group Practice Administrator, Director of Environmental Safety, and Associate Dean of Academic Affairs. He also maintained a private dental practice in Westfield and Newark, NJ during this time.
In June 2005, He joined the Colgate Palmolive Oral Care Clinical Research Department as an Associate Director. He worked at Colgate until September 2017 as the Global Director of Scientific Affairs.
In August 2018, Dr. Panagakos joined the West Virginia University School of Dentistry as the Associate Dean for Research, where he led the institution’s research efforts. He served as interim dean from July 2020 until May 2021.
Since May 2022, Dr. Panagakos has been the Founding Dean of the School of Dental Medicine at Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences in Yakima, WA.
