Thomas E. Rams is the director of the Oral Microbiology Testing Service Laboratory and a practicing clinical periodontist. He is a professor in the Kornberg School of Dentistry’s Department of Periodontology and Oral Implantology, and a professor in the Lewis Katz School of Medicine’s Department of Microbiology and Immunology. 

He is a diplomate of the American Board of Periodontology and the International Congress of Oral Implantologists. 

He has a bachelor of science in environmental health degree from The George Washington University; a master of health science in environmental health sciences degree from Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health; a doctor of dental surgery degree from the University of Maryland School of Dentistry; and a PhD in medical sciences (oral microbiology) degree from the University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen (Netherlands). 

Dr. Rams completed postgraduate specialty residencies in periodontics at the New York VA Medical Center, and in dental public health at the National Institute of Dental Research, National Institutes of Health, where he also received a postgraduate fellowship certificate in clinical dentistry. 

Dr. Rams is the only periodontist in the United States who is state licensed as a director of a clinical diagnostic microbiology laboratory. His research interests are focused on clinical periodontal diagnostic microbiology, use of systemic and local antimicrobial agents in minimally-invasive periodontal therapy, and laser-assisted periodontal regeneration surgery. 

Dr. Rams has served as director of the OMTS Laboratory since 1995.