A Parallel Existence: Dean Krebsbach's Spring 2024 Message
***This message appears in the UCLA School of Dentistry's Spring 2024 Magazine***
As I sat down to write this message – an exploration of the UCLA School of Dentistry’s remarkable impact in six short decades – it occurred to me that I’ve lived a life in tandem with the School.
I was born in 1960, the same year that UCLA appointed Dr. Reidar Sognnaes as the inaugural dean of its dental school, which was set to open four years later. An ideal hire, Dr. Sognnaes left a similar position at Harvard, providing this new unit of our university with instant credibility … especially as a research-intensive institution, given his considerable discoveries in oral pathology.
While I wasn’t yet conducting research in the 1960s, expanding scientific knowledge has sustained my career-long passion for health care and science. As I immersed myself in mineralized tissues at the cellular level and the self-renewal of stem cells at several peer institutions from the 1980s to 2000s, researchers at the UCLA School of Dentistry were making groundbreaking discoveries in oral and general health.
Implantology has been a particular strength, from our namesake UCLA Abutment, widely used by clinicians since the 1980s, to recent advancements in UV light treatment ensuring near-perfect osseointegration. In addition, some of the leading oral cancer researchers have called our laboratories home. I’m equally proud of this School’s findings at the intersection of science and social good, such as enhanced understanding of how socioeconomic factors play a role in childhood caries.
Our parallel paths finally converged in 2016, when I was given the honor of serving as the School’s eighth dean. As I was already keenly aware of UCLA Dentistry’s research prowess, colleagues enthusiastically explained the substantial work supporting the School’s three other pillars of excellence: Education, patient care, and public service.
On the following pages, you’ll meet some of the best and brightest to call UCLA Dentistry home, both currently and among our alumni ranks. Three Bruin “wonder women” share how the profession has evolved to become more inclusive through the decades, while a collaboration across two specialty clinics has transformed one young patient’s life. Innovation is fully displayed through the MINDFUL Project, a first-of-its-kind initiative bringing critical dental treatment to long-term care facilities. Finally, circling back to research, Dr. Yvonne Hernandez-Kapila’s team has unlocked the incredible probiotic power of nisin and its implications throughout the body.
Consider this magazine a precursor to the main event: The UCLA School of Dentistry’s 60th Anniversary Celebration on Saturday, Sept. 28. I hope you can join us!
Sincerely,
Paul H. Krebsbach
Dean and Professor