CDM Welcomes New Interim Dean
On January 11, Roseanna Graham, DDS, PhD, Columbia University College of Dental Medicine’s new interim dean, welcomed the CDM community to Alumni Auditorium to share reflections on her time as a student and faculty member at CDM as well as her vision for the future of the school.
Katrina Armstrong, MD, the chief executive officer of Columbia University Irving Medical Center and dean of the faculties of Health Sciences, introduced Dr. Graham, noting that the medical center is “deeply committed to the dental school” and that she could not imagine a “better set of hands to guide the school through its next phase.”
Dr. Graham is chair of CDM’s section of Cariology and Restorative Sciences and director of the College’s Division of Operative Dentistry. A graduate of CDM, she completed a general practice residency at Long Island Jewish Medical Center and earned a master’s and a PhD from the Department of Mathematics, Science, and Technology at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Education, Teachers College.
Dr. Graham acknowledged CDM’s most recent former deans and the impact they have had on the school: Dr. Melvin Moss; Dr. Edward Zegarelli; Dr. Allan Formicola; Dr. Ira Lamster; and Dr. Christian Stohler. She credited Marlene Klyvert, EdD, who served in a number of capacities at CDM, with igniting her passion for dental education and for helping to create and administer CDM’s dual degree program with Teachers College. Dr. Graham was the first graduate of the program.
She went on to recognize the important role that the faculty, students, and staff have at CDM, adding that she is looking forward to continuing the CDM tradition of “learning, discovery, opportunity, and growth.”
Both Dr. Armstrong and Dr. Graham shared their regard for Dr. Stohler, CDM’s outgoing dean, and his decade of stewardship. Dr. Armstrong praised the College’s “outstanding trajectory” and noted that, under Dr. Stohler’s tenure, CDM strengthened its leadership in dental education and clinical training. CDM’s curricular offerings have been transformed through a variety of initiatives and new programs, most notably, the Center for Precision Dental Medicine, a 15,000-square-foot space for high-tech learning that opened in 2017. During his tenure, CDM established the Center for Dental and Craniofacial Research, expanding its collaboration with the School of Engineering and the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Stohler will remain a member of the CDM faculty.