Faculty | General Practice Residency

Michael T. Brennan, DDS, MHS
A native of Iowa, Dr. Brennan attended University of Iowa for both his undergraduate and dental training. After his dental training, he completed a GPR at Loyola University Hospital, Chicago. Following residency training, he received a Certificate in Oral Medicine at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., and a Master's of Health Science in Clinical Research from Duke University. He then joined the Department of Oral Medicine in June 2000, and serves as the Oral Medicine Residency Director. He has a number of clinical interests including the management of mucosal and salivary gland diseases, mucositis, facial pain and medically compromised patients. He and his wife, Joanne, have two children and enjoy numerous outdoor sports.

Robert P. Hollowell, Jr., DDS, MS
Dr. Hollowell graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill School of Dentistry. After completing a two-year GPR at UNC Hospitals, he joined the faculty at WakeMed, as the Director of Dental Services and the Department of Dental Ecology at UNC-Chapel Hill as Clinical Assistant Professor. He later served as Dental Director of the Murdoch Developmental Center in Butner, NC and as the Director of the UNC Hospitals Dental Clinic. In December 2013, he joined the Department of Oral Medicine as GPR Director and Dental Director of the CMC Dental Clinic. Dr. Hollowell is a Fellow of the American Association of Hospital Dentists, the American College of Dentists and the International College of Dentists, and a Diplomate of the American Board of Special Care Dentistry. Currently, he serves as President of the UNC Dental Alumni Association Board of Directors and was the 2011 President of the North Carolina Dental Society. His clinical interest is the dental management of medically compromised patients in the hospital setting. He and his wife, Donna, have two children.

Anita Patel, DMD
A native of Dar-es-salaam, Tanzania, E. Africa, Dr. Patel moved to the United States in 1979. She is a graduate of University of Pennsylvania, School of Dental Medicine. After completing a one year GPR program (with an optional second year) at University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey – New Jersey Dental School (UMDNJ-NJDS), she completed a 9 month distance learning, with a one month clinical rotation Fellowship program at the University of Washington in Dental Education for Care of the Disabled (DECOD). In 1997, she joined the Division of Oral Medicine at UMDNJ-NJDS, as a part-time faculty member in the GPR program. In the same year, she also joined Jersey Shore Medical Center as a part time attending in the GPR program and staff dentist. Also, in 1997, she joined a private practice part-time for a year. From 2000 to 2007, she served as GPR program and Division of Hospital Dentistry director at UMDNJ-NJDS. Her clinical interests include hospital dentistry, management of special needs patients, dental management of medically compromised patients, and dental management of the head and neck cancer patients. She and her husband, Harish, have two children.

Joel J. Napeñas, DDS
A native of Brantford, Ontario, Canada, Dr. Napeñas graduated from the University of Western Ontario School of Dentistry in 2002 after having attained an Honors B.Sc. in Physiology at the University of Toronto in 1998. Postdoctoral training includes a one-year General Practice Residency (GPR) from the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Dayton, OH, and he received a Certificate in Oral Medicine after two years at Carolinas Medical Center. Upon completion of his training, he joined the faculty at the University of Texas at Houston as Director of the GPR program. He returned to the Department of Oral Medicine in January 2007, and served as Director of the GPR program. Dr. Napeñas is a Diplomate of the American Board of Oral Medicine, Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, Diplomate in Special Care Dentistry and Fellow of the American Association of Hospital Dentists. His clinical and research interests in oral medicine include hospital dentistry, dental management of medically compromised patients, oral mucosal diseases, oral oncology, temporomandibular disorders / orofacial pain and salivary gland disorders.