Strauss Receives Professorship

Ronald Strauss and his wife Susan Slatkoff

Ronald Strauss, DMD, MA, PhD, recipient of The Dental Friends Distinguished Professorship in Dental Ecology, was honored at a reception at the Carolina Inn, Nov. 28, 2000. He is professor and chair of the department of dental ecology. Strauss is an internationally renowned scholar with an impressive record of accomplishments. He earned his DMD degree and an MA in sociology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1972 and 1974 respectively. Strauss joined the University of North Carolina School of Dentistry in 1974 as an assistant professor in dental ecology. Simultaneously, Strauss undertook PhD studies in medical sociology with the support of a NIH Postdoctoral Fellowship in dentistry and sociology, receiving his degree in 1979.

In 1979 he was promoted to associate professor at the School of Dentistry and was appointed adjunct associate professor in the School of Medicine. Promotion to full professor followed in 1989. Strauss has been widely recognized with numerous adjunct and honorary academic appointments in Israel (1985-86), Mexico (1990), and Brazil (1998). In 1977 he became the dental director of the UNC Craniofacial Center and was appointed as chair of the department of dental ecology.

Clinically Strauss has been continually active as a practitioner in the UNC Craniofacial Center, providing care for children with cleft lip/palate and other craniofacial disorders. Strauss holds active memberships in many professional and academic organizations.

His scholarly research has focused on questions at the interface between social science, ethics, health status, and health care, especially in the context of cleft lip/palate patients and their families. HIV/AIDS patients, in both the clinical and the community setting, have also been the objects of his investigations.

The Dental Friends Distinguished Professorship in Dental Ecology was created through the generosity of an anonymous donor who contributed more than $465,000 to the Dental Foundation of North Carolina, Inc. in 1999. The major portion of this gift was used to fund the endowed professorship using the State of North Carolina's matching gifts program. The initial value of The Dental Friends Distinguished Professorship in Dental Ecology was therefore established at $500,000. Interest from the endowment will fund a stipend for the professorship recipient.

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