ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR
Leonard Litkowski, DDS, MS

In Leonard Litkowski’s dental biomaterials class, students learn how to create products to help dental patients. That’s because the focus of the research of the Entrepreneur of the Year is the development of synthetic bioactive materials.

Litkowski's materials aid, enhance, and strengthen the remineralization process to treat tooth hypersensitivity (a common and often painful dental problem). The associate professor in the Department of Endodontics, Prosthodontics and Operative Dentistry also designs clinical trials to bring discoveries to day-to-day clinical practice.

The co-director of the Dental School’s Center for Clinical Studies is known among his colleagues not only for his skills in translating basic science into marketable, realworld applications that can improve oral health, but also for his ability to assemble people and resources to bring these applications to fruition.

Litkowski’s research, some of it with fellow Entrepreneur of the Year winner Gary David Hack, has resulted in the issuance of 26 U.S. and international patents (with 20 more currently under review), and seven revenue-producing products in the marketplace.