Deborah Greenspan PhD, DSc, BDS, DDS, MRCPath, FRCPath

Deborah Greenspan, BDS, DSc, UCSF School of Dentistry professor of clinical oral medicine, interim chair of the Department of Orofacial Sciences, and clinical director of the UCSF Oral AIDS Center, has been appointed chair of Orofacial Sciences. She is an international leader in oral science and has spoken extensively on oral cancer, oral candidiasis, AIDS, the oral manifestations of HIV infection, and infection control, said John D.B. Featherstone, MSc, Ph.D., interim dean of the UCSF School of Dentistry.

Originally from England, Greenspan has been at UCSF since 1976. She has served as a consultant to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and on many University of California Academic Senate committees, including Academic Planning and Budget as well as Equal Opportunity. Greenspan is a leading investigator and clinician specializing in oral infectious diseases and has long worked with colleagues throughout the world to improve oral and general health

Her international work includes training a generation of clinicians in clinical care and in developing research programs. Greenspan has made a number of discoveries concerning oral health: delineating new lesions associated with HIV infection, devising new ways of treating mouth problems in HIV-positive people, and charting changes in the AIDS epidemic since its beginning in San Francisco. Greenspan's discovery of hairy leukoplakia - a white patch with a corrugated or hairy appearance on the side of the tongue - which is found in those with severe defects of immunity, opened up new aspects of AIDS research worldwide. Her research in Epstein-Barr virus, a member of the herpesvirus family, led to pioneering, effective oral care.