Building upon its global engagement, Penn Dental Medicine has renewed ties with Hebrew University-Hadassah School of Dental Medicine in Jerusalem, Israel, signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to facilitate collaborative exchange and research with faculty and students. The MOU signing was part of the Power of Partnership program, held June 18-19 at Penn Dental Medicine, when the School hosted a delegation from Hadassah.

This two-day program, which included meetings with faculty counterparts from both schools and a continuing education program, also celebrated the late Dr. D. Walter Cohen, Dean Emeritus of Penn Dental Medicine, who had close ties to Hebrew University over his lifetime.

“We are so pleased to reignite this relationship with colleagues from Hadassah,” says Dr. Mark Wolff, Penn Dental Medicine’s Morton Amsterdam Dean. “Already through this gathering, researchers and faculty have met and our relationship is alive and growing, and doing it in the name of Walter, is particularly rewarding. It is wonderful when a legacy like his can carry on.”

Dr. Cohen, a 1950 graduate of Penn Dental Medicine who led the School as Dean from 1972 to 1983, shared a strong bond with Hebrew University-Hadassah School of Dental Medicine.

His father, Abram, was the first Chairman of the Palestine Dental School Committee, which helped plan the dental school, and both father and son played central roles in its history. In 1997, these efforts were celebrated with the creation of the D. Walter Cohen, D.D.S. Middle East Center for Dental Education at Hebrew University.

The Power of Partnership dinner celebration, held June 18 at the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia, honored Dr. Cohen. Along with the signing of the MOU by Dean Mark Wolff and Dr. Aaron Palmon, Dean of Hadassah School of Dental Medicine, tributes were made to Dr. Cohen by Stanley Bergman, Chairman of the Board and CEO of Henry Schein, Inc.; Daniel Perkins, CEO of AEGIS Communications; and Dr. Marc Rothman, past Chair of the Alpha Omega Foundation and co-developer of the Alpha Omega International Dental Fraternity’s Global Oral Health Initiative.

The continuing education program on June 19 included the inaugural D. Walter Cohen Memorial Lecture, presented by Dean Mark Wolff on The Global Challenge of Managing Oral Health. Other lectures included Periodontal-Prosthesis: 70 years in Retrospect by Dr. Henry Salama; Cells and Signaling Pathways in Microbe-driven Periodontal and Peri-implant Inflammation by Dr. Gabriel Nussbaum; CAD/CAM Ceramic Update by Dr. Markus B. Blatz; Esthetic Full-Mouth Rehabilitations – 40 Years Perspective by Dr. Gerard Chiche; and Modern Clinical Dilemma: Save or Extract and Implant by Dr. Syngcuk Kim.

It is anticipated that Penn Dental Medicine and Hebrew University-Hadassah School of Dental Medicine will gather annually for a collaborative meeting with the 2020 program to be hosted at Hebrew University.

Read the source article at dental.upenn.edu