Denis F Kinane is a professor in the Department of Periodontics, Endodontics and Dental Hygiene in the School of Dentistry, University of Louisville, Kentucky, USA. He also serves as Associate Dean for Research and Enterprise and Director of the Oral Health and Systemic Disease Research Group. His research focuses on periodontal immune and inflammatory processes, mainly explaining the causes, development and susceptibility markers of periodontal disease. Kinane and his team also are examining the clinical relationship between oral and systemic health and diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease and periodontal disease.

Kinane was chair of the International Society for the Prevention of Tobacco Induced Diseases in 2005 and hosted the International Smoking Cessation aspects, including NRT therapy specifically of the ISPT conference in 2004 in Louisville Kentucky. This conference was awarded an NCI grant and involved notable researchers from Hong Kong and USA on smoking cessation techniques and their impacts on oral health and systemic disease. Kinane was an invited lecturer at the ISPTID meetings in Athens 2005 and Hong Kong in 2006.

Kinane has received many awards for his work and has published more than 180 original articles in scientific journals and is the president elect of the Gordon conference in Periodontology. He is the councilor for the Periodontal Research Group of the IADR and chairs and organizes multiple symposia and international meetings.