Donoff led the Harvard School of Dental Medicine for 28 years and was a prominent advocate for integrating oral health with general medicine.
Bruce Donoff, DMD, MD, who served as dean of the Harvard School of Dental Medicine (HSDM) from 1991 to 2019, died on December 25, according to Harvard Medical School. He was 83.
During his 28-year tenure, Donoff was an advocate for the integration of oral and general medicine, a concept he described as “reuniting the mouth with the rest of the body.” He launched the HSDM Initiative to Integrate Oral Health and Medicine, a program that continues to promote the connection between oral and systemic health.
“Bruce was an extraordinary leader of the dental school through three decades of progress and change. He remained passionately committed to the integration of oral medicine and general medicine… and was a fierce advocate for the importance of oral health to public health,” says George Q Daley, dean of the faculty of medicine at Harvard University, in a release.
Donoff’s career included major research contributions in oral and maxillofacial surgery, with interests in wound healing, bone graft survival, sensory nerve repair, and oral cancer. He published more than 100 scientific papers and authored several textbooks.
As dean, he updated the dental curriculum to include student training in community health centers and expanded the school’s research facilities, nearly doubling its footprint with the opening of the Research and Education Building in 2004.
“Dr Donoff’s leadership, vision, and tireless dedication to the advancement of dental education… cultivated a culture of excellence and elevated the School’s prominence in research and dental education,” says William V Giannobile, dean of HSDM, in a release from the medical school.
An alumnus of HSDM and Harvard Medical School, Donoff’s professional career was also anchored at Massachusetts General Hospital, where he served as chair and chief of service in the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery from 1982 to 1993. He also served on the board of the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Foundation and was a former president of the Friends of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research.
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