Captain James Ragain, US Navy
retired, graduated from the
University of Tennessee in June
1976 and was commissioned
as a second lieutenant into the
Medical Service Corps. In 1980,
Ragain resigned his active duty
commission to attend the UT
Health Science Center (UTHSC)
dental school. Following graduation from dental school in 1984, he was
commissioned as a lieutenant in the US Navy Dental Corps in 1985.
Ragain served in clinical, academic, and research positions of increasing
responsibility. His excellence in dental research is evidenced by his
numerous abstracts, publications, peer review journal articles, and book
chapters. He led a dental research team into the Operation Enduring
Freedom area of operations in 2005. His active-duty career culminated
as the commanding officer for the Naval Institute for Dental and
Biomedical Research.
Upon retirement in 2013, Ragain became a faculty member at the
UTHSC College of Dentistry. He was twice presented with a studentselected
UTHSC Excellence in Teaching award. In 2018, Ragain became
the first University of Tennessee alumnus to be named the dean of the
UTHSC College of Dentistry.
Ragain and his wife, Debra, reside in Collierville, Tennessee.
