Columbia University College of Dental Medicine

Columbia University College of Dental Medicine
dm14@columbia.edu

FROM THE DEAN'S DESK
IRA B. LAMSTER, DEAN
SCHOOL OF DENTAL AND ORAL SURGERY, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
Summer 2003
Dear Friend,
Oftentimes when we think of the School of Dental and Oral Surgery, we think of
clinics, classrooms and laboratories. But we are much more than that. Our alumni,
faculty, predoctoral students, postdoctoral students, hospital residents and staff are
what truly define us. We've done our best to keep in contact with this large and diverse
group over the years. Today, I would like to report to you on our recent efforts to
strengthen the links between the alumni and the School, as well as on recent initiatives
aimed at improving the environment for predoctoral students.
Always a critically important part of the School, the Alumni Association has focused
its efforts on activities in and around New York City, as many of the Officers of the
Association live and practice here. Recently, we've been working with the Alumni
Association to broaden SDOSÌ outreach and have organized three new regional
alumni clubs in New Jersey, Rockland-Westchester, and Long Island. Each of these
clubs met in the spring, with faculty from the School featured as guest speakers. The
good turnout at the meetingsÛ35 to 45 attendees at each meetingÛencourages us to
continue in this effort, and form additional regional clubs.
The School has also begun to sponsor receptions for alumni at major annual meetings,
such as the American Dental Association, the Yankee Dental Congress in Boston, and
the Greater New York Dental Meeting, as well as at the major specialty meetings. This
initiative has given me the opportunity to meet and talk with alumni and friends of
SDOS who might otherwise not visit us in New York.
Since the predoctoral curriculum at the School is demanding, I have sought ways to
improve the environment for our students. This past spring we introduced Professional
Societies at SDOS. The meetings of the Societies are envisioned as social gatherings,
where dental students, residents and postdoctoral fellows and faculty can meet outside
of the classroom or clinic environment. As first and second-year dental students spend
a great deal of time with their basic science courses, they can occasionally feel
isolated from the School. The Societies are a way of helping minimize this problem.
The first of these events was successful, and we plan to hold three meetings of each
To date, we've created four societies, each named after a prominent figure in the
history of SDOS. The individuals honored were:
Dr. Charles Bodecker, former Chair of the Department of Oral Histology and Director
of Research at SDOS, was considered one of the first cariologists. He defined the
presence of the enamel matrix, and his histological studies of dental anatomy are
considered classics in their field. Dr. Bodecker always maintained an appreciation for
the clinical importance of his research, which is evidenced in his text, 'The
Fundamentals of Dental Histology and Embryology'.
Dr. A. Elizabeth Delany, was the first African-American to graduate from the School of
Dental and Oral Surgery (1923). Dr. Delany practiced dentistry on 135t' Street in
Harlem from 1927 to 1950. With her sister Sarah, she was the author of the best-selling
book Having Our Say: the Delany Sisters' First 100 Years, which is about their lives and
their beliefs.
Dr. Henry Sage Dunning, chaired the Committee for a Columbia University Dental
School, which in 1916 presented the proposal "A Dental School on University Lines"
to Columbia's President Nicholas Murray Butler. The proposal would become the basis
for the Dental School at Columbia. Dr. Dunning's fundraising efforts helped convince
the University of the financial feasibility for founding a dental school.
Dr. Alfred Owre, Dean of the School from 1927 to 1934, oversaw the transition of the
School to the Medical Center. A strong proponent of scholarship and research, he felt
passionately that a dental school must function as an integral part of its University and
that dentistry should find its rightful place with medicine at the medical center.
It is the intent of both initiatives to improve the opportunities for our constituents to
interact. Please contact me if you want to get involved.
Sincerely yours,
Ira B. Lamster, D.D.S.,
M.M.Sc.
Dean
PS. We are planning to expand the Dean's Letter into a newsletter format, so that
we can provide you with more information on a variety of topics. Look for the
expanded version this winter.