Weintraub, former faculty member, recommended as School of Dentistry dean

Dr. Jane A. Weintraub, a widely recognized dental health expert and researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Dentistry, will be recommended to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Board of Trustees as the next dean of the School of Dentistry.

Chancellor Holden Thorp and Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Bruce Carney selected Weintraub following a national search. Trustees are expected to consider the recommendation from Thorp this week. The recommended appointment date is July 1, 2011.

“During her 30-year career, Dr. Weintraub has contributed significantly to the efforts to prevent dental disease among people most at risk,” said Chancellor Holden Thorp. “She has earned national recognition for her work to reduce oral health disparities and is an outstanding educator, scientist and mentor. Such qualifications have prepared her well to guide the School of Dentistry in continuing to fulfill its mission of providing excellent teaching, patient care, research and public service.”

Weintraub was a faculty member at Carolina for seven years before starting at UCSF in 1995. She is the Lee Hysan Professor of Dental Public Health and Oral Epidemiology in the School of Dentistry and chair of the oral epidemiology and dental public health division in the school’s preventive and restorative dental sciences department. She also holds a professorship in the UCSF School of Medicine’s department of epidemiology and biostatistics.

Weintraub’s research has helped shape scientific guidelines regarding sealants and fluoride that have become a part of mainstream dental and public health practices. She is the principal investigator and director of the Center to Address Disparities in Children’s Oral Health, known as CAN DO. The center focuses on preventing early childhood caries, a condition that is difficult and expensive to treat and disproportionately affects young children from disadvantaged backgrounds. In 2008, this National Institutes of Health-funded center received an additional seven years of funding totaling $24.4 million — the biggest grant in the UCSF School of Dentistry’s history.

Her professional experience includes practicing dentistry in neighborhood health centers in Boston early in her career; working as an instructor at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine; serving on numerous committees and in leadership roles for a variety of national and international dental and public health associations; mentoring dozens of students and early career researchers; and developing and conducting dental clinical trials.

She is a past president of both the American Association of Public Health Dentistry and the International Association of Dental Research’s behavioral sciences and health services research group. She was one of the scientific editors and contributing authors for the first Surgeon General’s Report on Oral Health. In 2009 she received the International Association of Dental Research’s H. Trendley Dean Distinguished Scientist Award for her work in oral epidemiology and dental public health, and in 2010 she received the American Dental Association’s Norton M. Ross Award for Excellence in Clinical Research.

Weintraub graduated with a bachelor’s degree in biology and geology from the University of Rochester, N.Y., in 1975; a dental degree from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1979; and a master’s degree in public health and a postdoctoral certificate in dental care administration from Harvard University in 1980 and 1982, respectively.

Dr. John Stamm, professor of dental ecology, has served as interim dean since last May. The previous dean, John N. Williams, took the same post at the Indiana University School of Dentistry. Barbara K. Rimer, dean and Alumni Distinguished Professor in the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, chaired the campus advisory committee that led the search.

Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Bruce Carney praised Stamm, who resumed the role he had previously held from 1989 to 2004. “Chancellor Thorp and I are extremely grateful to Dr. Stamm for stepping in to once again lead the school. With his experience and devotion to Carolina, we could not have hoped for a more capable steward during this transition period.

“We’re also appreciative of Dean Rimer for chairing the search committee and to faculty members and dental alumni for all their efforts. Everyone has dedicated themselves to finding the right person to lead the school.”

Opened in 1950, the School of Dentistry consistently ranks among the nation’s top dental schools and is known widely for its excellent teaching, research, patient care and public service activities. Faculty teach students at the undergraduate, graduate, doctoral and postdoctoral levels. State, University and private support are making possible the new Dental Sciences Building, a 216,000-square-foot facility featuring study areas, state-of-the-art laboratories, administrative offices and clinical space. The building is due for completion in early 2012.