- Email: [email protected]
University of Michigan Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Training Program
J Oral Maxillofac Surg 69:2460-2464, 2011
University of Michigan Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Training Program Brent B. Ward, DDS, MD,* Steven Edlund, DDS,† and Joseph I. Helman, DMD‡ One year before the 1918 founding of the American Society of Oral Surgeons and Exodontists, Chalmers J. Lyons, at the request of Cyrenius Darling, MD, Chief of Surgery at the University of Michigan Hospital and Dean of the College of Dentistry, founded an oral surgery training program at the University of Michigan Hospital. It was one of the two first training programs in the United States formed that year and is currently the oldest running US oral and maxillofacial surgery (OMS) training program. Since then, the University of Michigan has been at the forefront of the scope of practice and training in OMS in the United States and beyond (Fig 1). Dr Lyons was a central figure in the development of oral surgery at the University of Michigan and establishing its clinical focus. In 1915 Chalmers J. Lyons was appointed instructor of oral surgery at the University of Michigan College of Dentistry and consultant dentist to University Hospital. With the establishment of the training program, he served as chairman until 1935 (Fig 2). Dr Al Kany, a 1916 graduate of the University of Michigan College of Dentistry, became the first trainee in the 1-year program. By 1922, the length of training was increased to 2 years, and in 1923 a third year was added along with a master of science in oral surgery. In addition to performing exodontia and repairing facial fractures, Dr Lyons had a great interest in cleft lip and palate surgery, having been a student of Dr Truman Brophy in Chicago and Dr Cyrenius Darling, a general surgeon at the University of Michigan. His considerable skill in this arena helped him establish
Received from the Section of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of Michigan. *Assistant Professor and Oncology Fellowship Program Director. †Previous Resident. ‡Chalmers J. Lyons Endowed Professor, Chairman, and Section Head. Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr Ward: University Hospital, 1500 E Medical Center Dr, Ann Arbor, MI 48109; e-mail: [email protected] © 2011 Published by Elsevier Inc on behalf of the American Association of
Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons 0278-2391/11/6909-0033$36.00/0 doi:10.1016/j.joms.2010.10.059
the largest cleft lip and palate practice in the country at that time. So admired was he by those he trained that they established an academy in his name in 1927. Since 1952, the Chalmers J. Lyons Academy has sponsored the Chalmers J. Lyons Memorial Lecture held at the annual scientific meeting of the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons (AAOMS). The academy continues to meet biennially and remains committed to the sharing of treatment ideas, research findings, clinical experiences, and fellowship among the member colleagues and has endowed the chairman’s position at the University of Michigan. After Dr Lyons’ untimely death in 1935, chairmanship of the department was given to John W. Kemper. Dr Kemper was first trained in dentistry and oral surgery and then in medicine and obstetrics and gynecology. He was coaxed back to chair the oral surgery program by then-Dean Marcus Ward and the alumni of the training program as Dr Lyons’ health began to fail. Dr Kemper maintained the strong involvement of oral surgery in the treatment of patients with cleft lip and palate. He was involved in establishing the Journal of Oral Surgery in the early 1940s and lobbying for the creation of a plastic surgery specialty. Notably, Dr Kemper was involved in the training of several surgeons who went on to have prominent careers. Among those are Herbert Bloom, who established the Mt Carmel/Sinai program in Detroit; Reed Dingman, who served as the first chairman of the Department of Plastic Surgery at the University of Michigan Hospital; and James R. Hayward, who succeeded Dr Kemper as department chair. James R. Hayward (Fig 3) is considered one of the prominent leaders of American OMS in the 20th century. After accepting the position as department chairman at 32 years of age, Dr Hayward embarked on a remarkable career. He continued the department’s involvement in cleft lip and palate, facial trauma, orthognathic, and dentoalveolar surgery. In addition, he helped lead the efforts to establish training for use by the American Board of Oral Surgery (1952-1962) and was an organizer of the International Association of Oral Surgeons (1962), Editor of the Journal of Oral Surgery (1966-1972), President of the American Society of Oral Surgeons (1969), and President of the American Board of Oral Surgery, as well as President
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WARD, EDLUND, AND HELMAN
FIGURE 1. University of Michigan Medical Center with main campus and city of Ann Arbor in background. Ward, Edlund, and Helman. University of Michigan OMS Training Program. J Oral Maxillofac Surg 2011.
FIGURE 2. Chalmers J. Lyons.
FIGURE 3. James R. Hayward.
Ward, Edlund, and Helman. University of Michigan OMS Training Program. J Oral Maxillofac Surg 2011.
Ward, Edlund, and Helman. University of Michigan OMS Training Program. J Oral Maxillofac Surg 2011.
2462 of the Chalmers J. Lyons Academy. Dr Hayward remained chair until his retirement in 1982. Dr Hayward was followed by Dr Raymond Fonseca. Dr Fonseca established and grew the Dentofacial Deformity Program with the help of Dr Katherine Vig from the Department of Orthodontics. His considerable energy and efforts reverberated throughout the dental school and hospital clinical arenas. Dr Fonseca was also instrumental in changing attitudes toward alveolar cleft bone grafting at the University of Michigan, a practice that was previously viewed with some caution. He was followed by Dr L. George Upton, who served as Interim Chair until the recruitment of Dr Stephen E. Feinberg from Ohio State University, followed by Dr Peter Polverini and Dr Norman J. Betts, who trained originally at the University of Michigan under Dr Fonseca. Presently, the Chair of the department is Dr Joseph I. Helman, originally from Argentina, who arrived in Michigan in 1994 recruited by Dr Feinberg from Rambam Medical Center, Haifa, Israel, after completing a 3-year Fogarty fellowship at the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research at the National Institutes of Health. Dr Helman brought not only his basic science experience but his training in head and neck surgery, which changed the scope of surgical practice at Michigan. In addition to his oncologic and reconstructive focus, Dr Helman also cofounded the multidisciplinary team dedicated to the management of obstructive sleep apnea and incorporated our specialty with a strong presence among the professions involved in the surgical treatment of obstructive sleep apnea at the University of Michigan. A clinical research component associated with outcomes assessment and outcome measures of obstructive sleep apnea was implemented in association with the “Alternatives to CPAP Clinic.” In 1998 and 1999 two transformational events occurred in the program. First, facilitated by Dr Feinberg, Brent Ward (current Fellowship Program Director) entered medical school while a third-year OMS resident, creating a path for integrated training. He was followed by Sean Edwards (current Residency Program Director), which has ultimately resulted in a programmatic shift in which all residents receive a medical degree during their residency. Supported by the Department of Surgery, the training includes extensive experience in general surgery, leading to a 2-year general surgery certificate concomitant with the OMS certificate. Second, in 1999 the first Fellow in Maxillofacial Oncology and Reconstructive Surgery, Dale Baur (current Chairman, Case Western Reserve), was admitted for an Army-sponsored 2-year fellowship. He was followed by Brent Ward (20012003), where the fellowship was Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA) accredited and became the first Graduate Medical Education (GME)-funded
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN OMS TRAINING PROGRAM
oncology fellowship in OMS. These changes have altered the training experience significantly and assisted in preparing our residents for the surgical rigor of the program as well as focused many of them toward fellowship training and academic careers. Since the inception of the fellowship, graduates have joined academic practices across the nation and around the world. The current department mission revolves around 3 objectives: delivery of exceptional patient care in the full scope of OMS; contributing to medical and surgical knowledge through basic, cutting-edge translational and clinical research; and training future academic leaders of the profession. The University of Michigan faculty enjoys a broadbased surgical practice with 3 of the faculty trained in oncology and microvascular reconstruction, one of whom is Dr Edwards, with dual fellowship training in both maxillofacial oncologic and reconstructive surgery, from the University of Michigan, and cleft/ craniofacial surgery, from the University of Pittsburgh. Dr Edwards’ return to our department marked a renewed emphasis on the management of children with clefts and craniofacial anomalies. This represented a strong return to our roots because the department was founded with a significant focus on the management of clefts. His pediatric expertise blended with his oncologic and microsurgical training has broadened the department’s involvement in the management and reconstruction of children with benign and malignant diseases of the head and neck, as well as with severe traumatic and congenital deformities. The expanded scope of interests augments training in all core aspects of OMS for optimal resident surgical experience including close associations with the University of Michigan School of Dentistry, where the OMS clinic is directed by Dr Pilar Hita-Iglesias, an oral surgeon trained in Spain. Case volume has dramatically increased over the last 7 years, leading to CODA accreditation of 2 additional final-year residents for a total of 4 approved per year. Furthermore, this year’s group of final-year trainees includes Michigan’s first DDS/OMS trainee having completed medical school and 1 year of general surgery before association with our program. The increase in the number of residents is in addition to a full-time 1- to 2-year fellowship in maxillofacial oncologic and reconstructive surgery now offered on a continuous basis. Under the direction of Dr Feinberg, Associate Chair for Research, the department engages in a broad array of research endeavors in the basic, translational, and clinical realms. Among the faculty, 3 basic and translational research laboratories are maintained. Dr Feinberg’s focus is on regenerative medicine, and he was the recipient of the Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery Foundation Research Recognition Award in 2004. In addi-
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WARD, EDLUND, AND HELMAN
FIGURE 4. University of Michigan OMS Microsurgery Training Center. Ward, Edlund, and Helman. University of Michigan OMS Training Program. J Oral Maxillofac Surg 2011.
tion, given his research expertise, he has served as chair of the AAOMS Advisory Committee on Research Planning and Technology Assessment and is the current chair of the International Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons (IAOMS) Research Committee. Dr Feinberg has received National Institutes of Health funding for his research in tissue engineering over the last 10 years. Dr Ward has been able to maintain a very active practice in maxillofacial oncologic surgery and reconstruction while keeping his research focus on nanotechnology, which has been continuously funded since he began his faculty appointment in 2003 and is highlighted in the article that follows. His laboratory is part of the multidisciplinary University of Michigan Nanotechnology Institute for Medicine and Biological Sciences. An additional laboratory/microsurgery training surgery center functions under the direction of Dr Wen Zhang, a plastic surgeon trained in the People’s Republic of China who was recruited full time to the OMS department in 2001. Dr Zhang carries out mi-
crovascular animal model research as well as providing training in microsurgery techniques for residents in OMS and 5 other surgical specialties at the University of Michigan, as well as fellows and visiting faculty from around the world (Fig 4). The department also participates in a large number of clinical research projects both specific to the department and through collaborations at the university. In recognition of the expertise and resources, Michigan has hosted the AAOMS Young Investigators Clinical Trials Methods Course, which was codirected by Drs Edwards and Ward. As an integral measure of the program’s success, Michigan is proud of its continuing tradition of training future leaders in our profession in both the academic and private practice realms. Many of the recent residents and all fellows have maintained associations with teaching programs through full- or part-time appointments, continuing a tradition set many years before by names such as Edwards Ellis III, Ole Jensen, and Norman Betts, to name a few. The department strives to model the attributes, skills, and environ-
2464
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN OMS TRAINING PROGRAM
FIGURE 5. Current Faculty, Fellow, and Residents. Front row: Brent Ward, Wen Zhang, Joseph Helman, Sean Edwards, Pilar Hita-Iglesias, and Stephen Feinberg. Second row: Simon Touchan, Amy Chin, Nicholas Makhoul, Anthony Fasi, Grant Wiswell, and Paul Kloostra. Third row: Paul Lopez, Christopher Sanker, and Jason Dashow. Fourth row: Reynaldo Rivera, Matt Pinsky, Stacy Griffth, and Clarance Tang. Fifth row: Jason Schrotenboer, Eshan Sharaf-Eldeen, and Bradley Robinson. Ward, Edlund, and Helman. University of Michigan OMS Training Program. J Oral Maxillofac Surg 2011.
ment required for such success with a long-term commitment to surgical scope, research, and leadership both nationally and internationally. The faculty notes with great sorrow the recent passing of Dr L. George Upton (1940-2010). George was a recognized expert in temporomandibular joint surgery who joined the faculty immediately after his residency training. Just before his passing, he was honored with the Distinguished Service Award from the School of Dentistry’s Alumni Society, and it was noted by Dr Helman that, “There’s nothing we can do
to thank George for everything he has done, the image he has conveyed, and for being a role model for everyone.” George made countless contributions to the faculty and residents at Michigan throughout his distinguished 40-year career. The department has a long and notable past and an equally bright future. Currently, the department is recruiting 3 additional full-time faculty members and looks forward to continued success in achieving its goals in the lives of patients, residents, fellows, and faculty at the University of Michigan (Fig 5).
University of Michigan Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Training Program Brent B. Ward, DDS, MD,* Steven Edlund, DDS,† and Joseph I. Helman, DMD‡ One year before the 1918 founding of the American Society of Oral Surgeons and Exodontists, Chalmers J. Lyons, at the request of Cyrenius Darling, MD, Chief of Surgery at the University of Michigan Hospital and Dean of the College of Dentistry, founded an oral surgery training program at the University of Michigan Hospital. It was one of the two first training programs in the United States formed that year and is currently the oldest running US oral and maxillofacial surgery (OMS) training program. Since then, the University of Michigan has been at the forefront of the scope of practice and training in OMS in the United States and beyond (Fig 1). Dr Lyons was a central figure in the development of oral surgery at the University of Michigan and establishing its clinical focus. In 1915 Chalmers J. Lyons was appointed instructor of oral surgery at the University of Michigan College of Dentistry and consultant dentist to University Hospital. With the establishment of the training program, he served as chairman until 1935 (Fig 2). Dr Al Kany, a 1916 graduate of the University of Michigan College of Dentistry, became the first trainee in the 1-year program. By 1922, the length of training was increased to 2 years, and in 1923 a third year was added along with a master of science in oral surgery. In addition to performing exodontia and repairing facial fractures, Dr Lyons had a great interest in cleft lip and palate surgery, having been a student of Dr Truman Brophy in Chicago and Dr Cyrenius Darling, a general surgeon at the University of Michigan. His considerable skill in this arena helped him establish
Received from the Section of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of Michigan. *Assistant Professor and Oncology Fellowship Program Director. †Previous Resident. ‡Chalmers J. Lyons Endowed Professor, Chairman, and Section Head. Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr Ward: University Hospital, 1500 E Medical Center Dr, Ann Arbor, MI 48109; e-mail: [email protected] © 2011 Published by Elsevier Inc on behalf of the American Association of
Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons 0278-2391/11/6909-0033$36.00/0 doi:10.1016/j.joms.2010.10.059
the largest cleft lip and palate practice in the country at that time. So admired was he by those he trained that they established an academy in his name in 1927. Since 1952, the Chalmers J. Lyons Academy has sponsored the Chalmers J. Lyons Memorial Lecture held at the annual scientific meeting of the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons (AAOMS). The academy continues to meet biennially and remains committed to the sharing of treatment ideas, research findings, clinical experiences, and fellowship among the member colleagues and has endowed the chairman’s position at the University of Michigan. After Dr Lyons’ untimely death in 1935, chairmanship of the department was given to John W. Kemper. Dr Kemper was first trained in dentistry and oral surgery and then in medicine and obstetrics and gynecology. He was coaxed back to chair the oral surgery program by then-Dean Marcus Ward and the alumni of the training program as Dr Lyons’ health began to fail. Dr Kemper maintained the strong involvement of oral surgery in the treatment of patients with cleft lip and palate. He was involved in establishing the Journal of Oral Surgery in the early 1940s and lobbying for the creation of a plastic surgery specialty. Notably, Dr Kemper was involved in the training of several surgeons who went on to have prominent careers. Among those are Herbert Bloom, who established the Mt Carmel/Sinai program in Detroit; Reed Dingman, who served as the first chairman of the Department of Plastic Surgery at the University of Michigan Hospital; and James R. Hayward, who succeeded Dr Kemper as department chair. James R. Hayward (Fig 3) is considered one of the prominent leaders of American OMS in the 20th century. After accepting the position as department chairman at 32 years of age, Dr Hayward embarked on a remarkable career. He continued the department’s involvement in cleft lip and palate, facial trauma, orthognathic, and dentoalveolar surgery. In addition, he helped lead the efforts to establish training for use by the American Board of Oral Surgery (1952-1962) and was an organizer of the International Association of Oral Surgeons (1962), Editor of the Journal of Oral Surgery (1966-1972), President of the American Society of Oral Surgeons (1969), and President of the American Board of Oral Surgery, as well as President
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WARD, EDLUND, AND HELMAN
FIGURE 1. University of Michigan Medical Center with main campus and city of Ann Arbor in background. Ward, Edlund, and Helman. University of Michigan OMS Training Program. J Oral Maxillofac Surg 2011.
FIGURE 2. Chalmers J. Lyons.
FIGURE 3. James R. Hayward.
Ward, Edlund, and Helman. University of Michigan OMS Training Program. J Oral Maxillofac Surg 2011.
Ward, Edlund, and Helman. University of Michigan OMS Training Program. J Oral Maxillofac Surg 2011.
2462 of the Chalmers J. Lyons Academy. Dr Hayward remained chair until his retirement in 1982. Dr Hayward was followed by Dr Raymond Fonseca. Dr Fonseca established and grew the Dentofacial Deformity Program with the help of Dr Katherine Vig from the Department of Orthodontics. His considerable energy and efforts reverberated throughout the dental school and hospital clinical arenas. Dr Fonseca was also instrumental in changing attitudes toward alveolar cleft bone grafting at the University of Michigan, a practice that was previously viewed with some caution. He was followed by Dr L. George Upton, who served as Interim Chair until the recruitment of Dr Stephen E. Feinberg from Ohio State University, followed by Dr Peter Polverini and Dr Norman J. Betts, who trained originally at the University of Michigan under Dr Fonseca. Presently, the Chair of the department is Dr Joseph I. Helman, originally from Argentina, who arrived in Michigan in 1994 recruited by Dr Feinberg from Rambam Medical Center, Haifa, Israel, after completing a 3-year Fogarty fellowship at the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research at the National Institutes of Health. Dr Helman brought not only his basic science experience but his training in head and neck surgery, which changed the scope of surgical practice at Michigan. In addition to his oncologic and reconstructive focus, Dr Helman also cofounded the multidisciplinary team dedicated to the management of obstructive sleep apnea and incorporated our specialty with a strong presence among the professions involved in the surgical treatment of obstructive sleep apnea at the University of Michigan. A clinical research component associated with outcomes assessment and outcome measures of obstructive sleep apnea was implemented in association with the “Alternatives to CPAP Clinic.” In 1998 and 1999 two transformational events occurred in the program. First, facilitated by Dr Feinberg, Brent Ward (current Fellowship Program Director) entered medical school while a third-year OMS resident, creating a path for integrated training. He was followed by Sean Edwards (current Residency Program Director), which has ultimately resulted in a programmatic shift in which all residents receive a medical degree during their residency. Supported by the Department of Surgery, the training includes extensive experience in general surgery, leading to a 2-year general surgery certificate concomitant with the OMS certificate. Second, in 1999 the first Fellow in Maxillofacial Oncology and Reconstructive Surgery, Dale Baur (current Chairman, Case Western Reserve), was admitted for an Army-sponsored 2-year fellowship. He was followed by Brent Ward (20012003), where the fellowship was Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA) accredited and became the first Graduate Medical Education (GME)-funded
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN OMS TRAINING PROGRAM
oncology fellowship in OMS. These changes have altered the training experience significantly and assisted in preparing our residents for the surgical rigor of the program as well as focused many of them toward fellowship training and academic careers. Since the inception of the fellowship, graduates have joined academic practices across the nation and around the world. The current department mission revolves around 3 objectives: delivery of exceptional patient care in the full scope of OMS; contributing to medical and surgical knowledge through basic, cutting-edge translational and clinical research; and training future academic leaders of the profession. The University of Michigan faculty enjoys a broadbased surgical practice with 3 of the faculty trained in oncology and microvascular reconstruction, one of whom is Dr Edwards, with dual fellowship training in both maxillofacial oncologic and reconstructive surgery, from the University of Michigan, and cleft/ craniofacial surgery, from the University of Pittsburgh. Dr Edwards’ return to our department marked a renewed emphasis on the management of children with clefts and craniofacial anomalies. This represented a strong return to our roots because the department was founded with a significant focus on the management of clefts. His pediatric expertise blended with his oncologic and microsurgical training has broadened the department’s involvement in the management and reconstruction of children with benign and malignant diseases of the head and neck, as well as with severe traumatic and congenital deformities. The expanded scope of interests augments training in all core aspects of OMS for optimal resident surgical experience including close associations with the University of Michigan School of Dentistry, where the OMS clinic is directed by Dr Pilar Hita-Iglesias, an oral surgeon trained in Spain. Case volume has dramatically increased over the last 7 years, leading to CODA accreditation of 2 additional final-year residents for a total of 4 approved per year. Furthermore, this year’s group of final-year trainees includes Michigan’s first DDS/OMS trainee having completed medical school and 1 year of general surgery before association with our program. The increase in the number of residents is in addition to a full-time 1- to 2-year fellowship in maxillofacial oncologic and reconstructive surgery now offered on a continuous basis. Under the direction of Dr Feinberg, Associate Chair for Research, the department engages in a broad array of research endeavors in the basic, translational, and clinical realms. Among the faculty, 3 basic and translational research laboratories are maintained. Dr Feinberg’s focus is on regenerative medicine, and he was the recipient of the Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery Foundation Research Recognition Award in 2004. In addi-
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WARD, EDLUND, AND HELMAN
FIGURE 4. University of Michigan OMS Microsurgery Training Center. Ward, Edlund, and Helman. University of Michigan OMS Training Program. J Oral Maxillofac Surg 2011.
tion, given his research expertise, he has served as chair of the AAOMS Advisory Committee on Research Planning and Technology Assessment and is the current chair of the International Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons (IAOMS) Research Committee. Dr Feinberg has received National Institutes of Health funding for his research in tissue engineering over the last 10 years. Dr Ward has been able to maintain a very active practice in maxillofacial oncologic surgery and reconstruction while keeping his research focus on nanotechnology, which has been continuously funded since he began his faculty appointment in 2003 and is highlighted in the article that follows. His laboratory is part of the multidisciplinary University of Michigan Nanotechnology Institute for Medicine and Biological Sciences. An additional laboratory/microsurgery training surgery center functions under the direction of Dr Wen Zhang, a plastic surgeon trained in the People’s Republic of China who was recruited full time to the OMS department in 2001. Dr Zhang carries out mi-
crovascular animal model research as well as providing training in microsurgery techniques for residents in OMS and 5 other surgical specialties at the University of Michigan, as well as fellows and visiting faculty from around the world (Fig 4). The department also participates in a large number of clinical research projects both specific to the department and through collaborations at the university. In recognition of the expertise and resources, Michigan has hosted the AAOMS Young Investigators Clinical Trials Methods Course, which was codirected by Drs Edwards and Ward. As an integral measure of the program’s success, Michigan is proud of its continuing tradition of training future leaders in our profession in both the academic and private practice realms. Many of the recent residents and all fellows have maintained associations with teaching programs through full- or part-time appointments, continuing a tradition set many years before by names such as Edwards Ellis III, Ole Jensen, and Norman Betts, to name a few. The department strives to model the attributes, skills, and environ-
2464
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN OMS TRAINING PROGRAM
FIGURE 5. Current Faculty, Fellow, and Residents. Front row: Brent Ward, Wen Zhang, Joseph Helman, Sean Edwards, Pilar Hita-Iglesias, and Stephen Feinberg. Second row: Simon Touchan, Amy Chin, Nicholas Makhoul, Anthony Fasi, Grant Wiswell, and Paul Kloostra. Third row: Paul Lopez, Christopher Sanker, and Jason Dashow. Fourth row: Reynaldo Rivera, Matt Pinsky, Stacy Griffth, and Clarance Tang. Fifth row: Jason Schrotenboer, Eshan Sharaf-Eldeen, and Bradley Robinson. Ward, Edlund, and Helman. University of Michigan OMS Training Program. J Oral Maxillofac Surg 2011.
ment required for such success with a long-term commitment to surgical scope, research, and leadership both nationally and internationally. The faculty notes with great sorrow the recent passing of Dr L. George Upton (1940-2010). George was a recognized expert in temporomandibular joint surgery who joined the faculty immediately after his residency training. Just before his passing, he was honored with the Distinguished Service Award from the School of Dentistry’s Alumni Society, and it was noted by Dr Helman that, “There’s nothing we can do
to thank George for everything he has done, the image he has conveyed, and for being a role model for everyone.” George made countless contributions to the faculty and residents at Michigan throughout his distinguished 40-year career. The department has a long and notable past and an equally bright future. Currently, the department is recruiting 3 additional full-time faculty members and looks forward to continued success in achieving its goals in the lives of patients, residents, fellows, and faculty at the University of Michigan (Fig 5).