Press Releases

IADR Invites Contributions to the John Greenspan Travel Award Endowment

Published on: April 24, 2024

Alexandria, VA, USA – The International Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research (IADR) is pleased to announce the IADR John Greenspan Travel Award Endowment. Greenspan was the seventy-third President of IADR (1996-97) and the seventeenth President of the American Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research (1988-89). He passed away on March 31, 2023.

More about Greenspan’s life and his contributions to oral health worldwide can be found in the Tribute to Dr. Greenspan published in the Journal of Dental Research, and a tribute symposium was held at the 2024 IADR/AADOCR/CADR General Session & Exhibition in New Orleans, LA, USA in March.

This new award is a wonderful way to honor my father's work. He would be proud to know that his legacy is helping under-resourced investigators from around the world to get their start at IADR.

Louise Greenspan, MD

In 2023, the IADR Board of Directors approved the renaming of the IADR Distinguished Scientist Award – Global Oral Health Research Award to the John Greenspan Global Oral Health Research Award, as well as the creation of the IADR John Greenspan Travel Award Endowment. During the preliminary stage of this campaign, IADR has already secured $50,000 in generous contributions and commitments, aiming for a goal of $60,000.

Once the goal is met, the IADR John Greenspan Travel Award will be given annually in the amount of $2,000 to new investigators residing in low to middle-income countries (LMIC) to attend and present their research at future IADR General Sessions. IADR members who are new investigators of up to five years post-graduation from dental, specialty training, or pre-PhD are eligible to apply for the award when submitting an abstract for an IADR General Session.

Greenspan was a distinguished figure in oral medicine with a career spanning over five decades. His research focused on the interplay between oral health and conditions like HIV/AIDS and helped establish the field of oral HIV/AIDS research. Alongside his wife, Deborah Greenspan, who served as the eighty-fourth President of the IADR (2007-08), he made significant contributions to the understanding of HIV/AIDS-related oral manifestations, notably identifying hairy leukoplakia and its association with the Epstein–Barr virus. Greenspan held prestigious positions at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), where he co-founded and directed the Oral AIDS Center and the UCSF AIDS Specimen Bank. He was also involved in global oral health initiatives and served in key leadership roles within the School of Dentistry and the School of Medicine at UCSF. Additionally, he was the director of the AIDS Research Institute at UCSF and a Fellow of King’s College London.

Donate now to help IADR reach the $60,000 goal to fully endow the John Greenspan Travel Award.  

 

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About IADR

The International Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research is a nonprofit organization with a mission to drive dental, oral, and craniofacial research for health and well-being worldwide. IADR represents the individual scientists, clinician-scientists, dental professionals, and students based in academic, government, non-profit, and private-sector institutions who share our mission. Learn more at www.iadr.org.