Professor Daniel Haas to head Faculty of Dentistry

The Agenda Committee of the Academic Board has approved the appointment of Professor Daniel Haas as Dean, Faculty of Dentistry from July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2017.

“Professor Haas brings to the deanship a rich background in research, teaching, clinical service, and administrative experience, as well as extensive involvement with national and international organizations,” said Cheryl Misak, vice-president and provost of the university. “We are very pleased that Professor Haas will be bringing his vast range of talents and skills as the next Dean of the Faculty of Dentistry at the University of Toronto.”

Haas, an internationally recognized scholar in the field of dentistry, is the only Canadian to win each of the following awards: the International Association for Dental Research Distinguished Scientist Award for Pharmacology/Therapeutics/Toxicology research (2004); the Heidbrink Award from the American Dental Society of Anesthesiology (2007); and the Leonard Monheim Distinguished Service Award of the American Society of Dentist Anesthesiologists for contributions to anesthesiology in dentistry.

“Under the leadership of David Mock as our dean, our faculty has built an excellent reputation and I am very honoured, excited and feel privileged to receive this appointment,” Haas said. “We have great faculty members, very bright students, and dedicated support staff – I’m looking forward to working with all of them, in creating a shared vision for our school.

A dedicated teacher, Haas has received 14 Dental Students Society Teaching Awards; the A. Bruce Hord Master Teacher Award (1991 and 2000); and the W.W. Wood Award for Excellence in Dental Education (2005).  He maintains a clinical practice at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre’s Department of Dentistry, focused on providing sedation and anesthesia for dental patients with special needs.

“Professor Haas has considerable administrative experience both at the University of Toronto and outside the University,” Misak said. “For the past eleven years he has served as the Associate Dean, Clinical Sciences overseeing the accreditation review of the Faculty’s DDS program this current year as well as the 2004-05 review.  He is an executive member of the University of Toronto Centre for the Study of Pain, has extensive involvement in Faculty committees and has chaired numerous search committees in the clinical sciences.”

Haas’ expertise and administrative experience has been widely sought. He is President-Elect/Treasurer of the Association of Canadian Faculties of Dentistry (ACFD) and from 2002-2008 he was the Chief Examiner for the Objective Structured Clinical Exam of the National Dental Examining Board of Canada (NDEB).  He also served on the Strategic Planning Committees for both of these bodies.  He was President of the Canadian Academy of Dental Anaesthesia in 1995-96 and 2001 and Chief Examiner and then Councilor in Dental Sciences for the Royal College of Dentists of Canada from 1995-2006. Since 2009, Haas has served on the Board of Directors of the American Society of Dentist Anesthesiologists. 

“In this past year we have had many retirements and we now have a number of newly hired faculty members,” Haas said. “I’m looking forward to working with them to build on our accomplishments, capitalize on their potential, and implement change that can take us forward.”

Haas received a BSc (with Honours), a DDS, a BScD (Anesthesia) and a PhD (Pharmacology) all from U of T.  He was named a Fellow of the Royal College of Dentists of Canada in the Dental Sciences in 1991.