Professor Daniel Haas Appointed Dean, Faculty of Dentistry

Memorandum

I am pleased to announce that the Agenda Committee of the Academic Board has approved the appointment of Professor Daniel Haas as Dean, Faculty of Dentistry from July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2017.

Professor Haas brings to the deanship a rich background in research, teaching, clinical service, and administrative experience, as well as extensive involvement with national and international organizations.

Professor Haas received a BSc (with Honours), a DDS, a BScD (Anesthesia) and a PhD (Pharmacology) all from the University of Toronto. In 1991 he was named a Fellow of the Royal College of Dentists of Canada in the Dental Sciences.

His scholarship has been recognized internationally with the receipt of a number of major awards: the International Association for Dental Research Distinguished Scientist Award for Pharmacology/Therapeutics/Toxicology research (2004); the Heidbrink Award from the American Dental Society of Anesthesiology (2007); and the Leonard Monheim Distinguished Service Award of the American Society of Dentist Anesthesiologists for contributions to anesthesiology. He has been the only Canadian to win each of these awards.

Professor Haas is also a dedicated teacher and is the recipient of a number of teaching awards including: 14 Dental Students Society Teaching Awards; the A. Bruce Hord Master Teacher Award (1991 and 2000); and the W.W. Wood Award for Excellence in Dental Education (2005). He is the director of the graduate program for the specialty of dental anesthesiology. He has been very active in continuing education and has maintained his clinical practice skills through a one-day per week commitment at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre’s Department of Dentistry, where his work focuses on providing sedation and anesthesia for dental patients with special needs.

Finally, Professor Haas has considerable administrative experience both at the University of Toronto and outside of the University. For the past eleven years he has served as the Associate Dean, Clinical Sciences overseeing the accreditation review of the Faculty’s DDS program this current year as well as the 2004-05 review. He has extensive involvement in Faculty committees and has chaired numerous search committees in the clinical sciences. Currently he is an executive member of the University of Toronto Centre for the Study of Pain.

Professor Haas’ expertise has been sought by other dental schools in Canada. He has served as an accreditation site visitor on many occasions as well as a decanal reviewer. His extensive administrative experience also extends to the national and international realm. For example he is the President-Elect/Treasurer of the Association of Canadian Faculties of Dentistry (ACFD) and from 2002-2008 he was the Chief Examiner for the Objective Structured Clinical Exam of the National Dental Examining Board of Canada (NDEB). He also served on the Strategic Planning Committees for both of these bodies. He was President of the Canadian Academy of Dental Anaesthesia in 1995-96 and 2001; Chief Examiner and then Councilor in Dental Sciences for the Royal College of Dentists of Canada from 1995-2006; since 2009 he has been on the Board of Directors of the American Society of Dentist Anesthesiologists.

We are very pleased that Professor Haas will be bringing his vast range of talents and skills as the next Dean of the Faculty of Dentistry at the University of Toronto.

Cheryl Misak,
Vice-President and Provost

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