Almost eighty years ago, in 1943, Professor Hermann Becks, DMD, MD, School of Dentistry, University of California, San Francisco, a distinguished teacher, educator and research scientist in the fields of oral medicine and experimental oral biology. founded the American Institute of Oral Biology, with the mission of providing a forum to emphasize the application of basic and clinical research to the prevention and treatment of oral disease.

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Passionately interested in lifelong learning for the healthcare professional, Dr. Becks undertook intensive lecturing for the Extension Division of the University of California, and undertook other post-graduate teaching throughout the USA, Canada and Mexico.

 

In addition to founding the Institute, Dr. Becks served as its president until his death in 1962.

 

Our subsequent leadership, Reidar Sognnaes, LDS, DMD, MS, PhD, Philip J. Boyne, DMD, MS, DSc (Hon.), Shahrokh Shabahang DDS, MS, PhD, Ted Splaver DDS and most recently, Shahrokh Shabahang DDS, MS, PhD have led the AIOB remaining steadfast to its core mission of providing vital quality scientific programs for our attendees.

 

Now entering our 80th year, the Institute continues, “serving as a meeting ground for the academically oriented researcher and the treatment conscious clinician.”

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The roster of invited faculty members over the past 80 years now numbers literally in the hundreds and included among them have been four Nobel Prize winners, namely: Victor Schally (Medicine), Allan M. Cormack (Medicine), Arthur Kornberg (Physiology or Medicine) and Stanley Prusiner (Physiology or Medicine.)

 

A sampling of the veritable Who’s Who of prominent scientists, researchers and clinicians , who have shared their knowledge with us follows, with apologies to the many others that space limitations preclude listing: Nasser Barghi, Leonard Bailey, Leif Bakland, William Becker, Philip J. Boyne, William Carpenter, Robert Chapman, Emanuel Cheraskin, Sebastian Ciancio, Arthur Curley, Raymond Dionne, Terrance Donovan, Judah Folkman, Yuman Fong, Ashraf Fouad, Charles Goodacre, Robert Gorlin, Victor Herbert, Alan Herford, James Hupp,  Leonard Kaban, Eugene Keller, Paul Krebsbach, Axel Kirch, Loretta LaRoche, Jaime Lozada, Angelo Mariotti, Ralph Merrill, Peter Moy, Myron Nevins, Peter Norland, Steven Parel, Frank Pavel, Morton Perel, Jens Pindborg, A. Hari Reddi, Albert Sabin, Hans Selye, Gunvar Semb, Shahrokh Shabahang, Sol Silverman, Harold Slavkin, Sigmund Stahl, Paul Stoelinga, Terry Tanaka, Mahmoud Torabinejad, Janet Travell, Marshall Urist, Charles Vacanti, David Witherspoon, Nathan Wolfe, and Bjorn Zachrisson.

 

“The annual meeting is held in a seminar format affording the attendees the opportunity to become totally immersed in a study of basic and applied sciences. The participants live and work for 3 days in an academic atmosphere while at the same time enjoying rest and relaxation. The goals of the Institute are accomplished in the annual meeting by adherence to a multidisciplinary regimen. Enrollment is limited to a number that will promote and encourage individual participation. In this way essayist-participant relationships are enhanced by their working sand studying together for the entire meeting.”