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History
The Boston University School of Graduate Dentistry was founded in 1963 under the leadership of Dean Henry M. Goldman. Originally located in a three-and-a-half story brownstone building on East Concord Street, the school in 1970 moved to the current facility at 100 East Newton Street.The three-story building was constructed in response to the dynamic expansion of teaching activities, enrollment, and research. Building on a foundation of strength in postdoctoral education, in 1972 the school initiated a predoctoral program leading to the Doctor of Dental Medicine degree. In 1973 the school constructed four more floors, bringing the East Newton Street building to its current seven stories.
The late 1970s and the 1980s were times of impressive growth in every area of the school. Affiliations with area dental practices, extramural sites, educational facilities, and myriad training sites across the country allowed students to improve clinical and practice management skills in a variety of practice types. In 1989, the school implemented the APEX (Applied Professional Experience) Program, where preclinical dental students gained experience in the dental practice environment.The early 1990s saw the school expand onto the university’s Charles River Campus with the Dental Health Center, which provides care to members of the Boston University community through the school’s Dental Health Plan, established in 1989. The Dental Health Plan in the 1990s began to offer coverage to employees of Boston Medical Center.
In 1996 the school had outgrown its designation as a school of graduate dentistry and accordingly was renamed the “Boston University Goldman School of Dental Medicine” to better reflect the scope of the school’s education, research, patient care, and community missions.
During the late 1990s, the school significantly expanded its research mission with the addition of two new departments, the Department of Health Policy and Health Services Research and the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology. In addition, the school strengthened the capacity to evaluate curriculum, programs, students, and faculty with the addition of the Department of Educational Research and Evaluation.
In 2000, the school concentrated the predoctoral curriculum under the new Department of General Dentistry. Also in 2000 the school opened the Simulation Learning Center, where preclincal students practice dentistry on virtual patients in a high-tech setting.
Under the leadership of Dean Spencer N. Frankl, who served as dean from 1977-2007, Boston University Goldman School of Dental Medicine moves into the twenty-first century. With a faculty of more than 325 educators, clinicians, and researchers and more than 250 staff members, the school offers a full spectrum of predoctoral and postdoctoral specialty education programs, and a complete range of graduate programs and degrees to more than 700 students.
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