School of Dentistry Names Deborah Greenspan Orofacial Sciences Chair

Deborah Greenspan, BDS, DSc, UCSF School of Dentistry professor of clinical oral medicine, interim chair of the Department of Orofacial Sciences and clinical director of the UCSF Oral AIDS Center, has been appointed chair of Orofacial Sciences. "She is an international leader in oral science and has spoken extensively on oral cancer, oral candidiasis, AIDS, the oral manifestations of HIV infection and infection control," said John D.B. Featherstone, MSc, PhD, interim dean of the UCSF School of Dentistry.

Originally from England, Greenspan has been at UCSF since 1976. She has served as a consultant to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and on many University of California Academic Senate committees, including Academic Planning and Budget as well as Equal Opportunity. Greenspan is a leading investigator and clinician specializing in oral infectious diseases, and has long worked with colleagues throughout the world to improve oral and general health. Her international work includes training a generation of clinicians in clinical care and in developing research programs. Greenspan has made a number of discoveries concerning oral health: delineating new lesions associated with HIV infection, devising new ways of treating mouth problems in HIV-positive people and charting changes in the AIDS epidemic since its beginning in San Francisco. Greenspan's discovery of hairy leukoplakia - a white patch with a corrugated or hairy appearance on the side of the tongue - which is found in those with severe defects of immunity, opened up new aspects of AIDS research worldwide. Her research in Epstein-Barr virus, a member of the herpesvirus family, led to pioneering, effective oral care. High Honors Honored multiple times this past year, Greenspan was named an ambassador by Research!America's Paul G. Rogers Society for Global Health Research and, most recently, was the recipient of an honorary doctor of science degree from King's College London. Greenspan is president of the International Association for Dental Research and is immediate past chair of the San Francisco Division of the University of California Academic Senate. She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, and in 2000, received the Silver Medal of the Ville de Paris. In 1989, she was named Seymour J. Kreshover Lecturer by the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research and also received the Samuel Charles Miller Award from the American Academy of Oral Medicine. That same year, she was awarded a Certificate of Commendation by the US Assistant Secretary for Health for her work with AIDS.