B. Gunnar Hasselgren, DDS, PhD

Dr. Gunnar Hasselgren received his dental education from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. Having been in practice for some time he developed an interest in endodontics, which is a great challenge in general practice. So, he returned to his Alma Mater for specialty training. Coming back into the academic environment made him develop an interest in research. After quite a few research courses at the Karolinska Institute he found a topic and a mentor and started to study enzyme activities in hard tissue producing and resorbing cells. As his mentor and laboratory moved to the Lund University in southern Sweden Dr. Hasselgren followed and could in 1977 present his PhD dissertation there. Dr. Hasselgren has two main research interests: hard tissue biology and clinical endodontics. These two areas have a lot in common and have been the main thread in his research activities. Dr. Hasselgren also finished his specialty training and became a Diplomate in Endodontics.

When he moved to the United States, Dr. Hasselgren earned an American certificate in endodontics from the University of Pennsylvania. Later, having been invited to join the faculty of the School of Dental and Oral Surgery of Columbia University (now the College of Dental Medicine), he was given the opportunity to obtain an American DDS degree. At Columbia University Dr. Hasselgren has served primarily as the Director of the Division of Endodontics. Research-wise he has been fortunate to work with Columbia University’s engineering school, especially with Professor Helen Lu and the Biomaterials and Interface Tissue Engineering Laboratory.