Dominick P. DePaola, MD born in Brooklyn, New York received a BS degree from St. Francis College in 1964 and a DDS degree from New York University in 1969. Following dental school, Dr. DePaola completed a general dentistry internship at Beth Abraham Hospital in New York City. Subsequently, DePaola earned a PhD in Nutritional Biochemistry and Metabolism at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Dr. DePaola has held faculty positions at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine, the Medical College of Virginia/Virginia Commonwealth University, Fairleigh Dickinson University School of Dentistry, the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, the Baylor College of Dentistry and Harvard School of Dental Medicine/Harvard Medical School. In 1983, Dr. DePaola was appointed dean of the Dental School at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, a position he held until 1988 when he was appointed Dean of the New Jersey Dental School at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. During his tenure in San Antonio, DePaola also served as the Acting Dean of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. DePaola held the position of President and Dean of the Baylor College of Dentistry in Dallas, Texas from August 1990 to September 1996 at which time the College merged with The Texas A&M University System. Following the merger, DePaola was appointed President of The Texas A&M University System Baylor College of Dentistry. He is currently President and CEO of The Forsyth Institute in Boston, Massachusetts and Professor of Oral Health Policy and Epidemiology at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine.
A prolific author and lecturer, DePaola has published over 75 scholarly articles and chapters in textbooks, as well as editing two texts. In addition, DePaola has presented over 700 invited national and international lectures, seminars and special education courses at universities, foundations, private corporations, professional organizations, and governmental agencies, including the National Institutes of Health. DePaola serves on the editorial board of the American Journal of Dentistry, and Dental Abstracts. DePaola also served on the Editorial Advisory Board of Prevention Magazine.
Among his numerous awards are an honorary Doctor of Science from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, an honorary Doctor of Science from Baylor University and honorary Fellowships in the American Academy of Oral Medicine and the Hispanic Dental Association. Columbia University and the Dental Society of the State of New York selected DePaola as the 1995 Percy T. Phillips Visiting Professor. Additionally, DePaola has received the Alumni Achievement Award from New York University, the Presidential Award from the San Antonio District Dental Society, and the award for exceptional performance as Dean by the 1987 graduating class in San Antonio. In 1997, he was named in Dallas Business Journal's Who's Who of CEOs and Entrepreneurs.
DePaola is a member of the honorary dental fraternity, Omicron Kappa Upsilon, and is a Fellow of both the American College of Dentists and the International College of Dentists. In 1991, he was appointed to the Pew Health Professions Commission Dental Advisory Board and in 1992, he was appointed to serve on the Board of the American Fund for Dental Health, now renamed Oral Health America. DePaola was elected Chairman of the Board of Oral Health America in January 1999. In 1992, DePaola was elected to the American Dental Association's Council on Dental Education. DePaola served as a Commission Member on the Commission on Dental Accreditation through July 1996. In 1997, the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services appointed DePaola to serve on the National Advisory Dental Research Council of the National Institutes of Health. DePaola served as a reviewer for the Surgeon General's Report on Oral Health. In 2006 and 2007, DePaola was appointed a member of the Special Emphasis Panel Review Committee of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR).
DePaola's research on nutrition as it relates to oral health and disease has been funded by federal, foundation and private sector sources. In addition to maintaining a long standing position as Visiting Professor for the National Dairy Council, DePaola is a frequent consultant to the National Institutes of Health, the food and pharmaceutical industry, the American Dental Association and the American Society of Nutrition Science/American Society of Clinical Nutrition (ASNS/ASCN), now renamed the American Society of Nutrition (ASN). From 1997 to 2003, DePaola was the Chair of the Public Information Committee of the ASN. From 2005 to the present DePaola was appointed to the Committee on Professional Nutrition Education of the American Society for Nutrition (ASN). Indeed, DePaola is widely regarded as an expert on nutrition as it relates to health promotion/disease prevention activities and to oral disease, diagnosis, etiology and therapy.
In 1990, his peers elected DePaola as President of the American Association of Dental Schools (ADEA), the only organization that solely represents the interests of the nation's academic dental enterprise. From 1995 to 1997, DePaola served as chair of the Council of Presidents of the Alliance for Higher Education. Also, in 1997, DePaola was elected to the Board of Directors of Block Drug Company. DePaola is also a principal in The Santa Fe Group, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the health and well being of the American public. In February 2001, DePaola was awarded an Honorary Membership to the American Dietetic Association (ADA); the only dentist ever so honored, and was elected Vice President of the AADR (January 2002). He was elected President of the AADR in 2003 and is the only person to have served as the President of both the ADEA and the AADR.
From 2002 to the present, DePaola was elected to a position on the Board of Research!America. He also served on the Scientific Advisory Board of Church and Dwight. DePaola served on the Board of Overseers of the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine. Currently, he serves as the Chair of the External Scientific and Program Advisory Committee (ESPAC) at the University of Alabama, Birmingham; is a member of the Curriculum Advisory Committee at Marquette University School of Dentistry; is a member of the Board of Overseers at the Arizona School for Dental and Oral Health (ASDOH) and also serves on their Blue Ribbon Advisory Board; is a member of the Advisory committee of the DMD/MD Program at Case Western Reserve University; is a member of Nova Southeastern University Board of Councilors; serves as a member of the Board of Visitors at Boston University's Goldman School of Dental Medicine; is a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Center for Inflammatory Disease at the University of North Carolina and in 2005 was elected to the Board of the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI). He is also a member of the Matrixx Initiatives, Inc. Dental Advisory Board.
In 2003, DePaola was awarded a Presidential Citation by the American Dental Education Association for his outstanding contribution to the ADEA and to the profession of dentistry. DePaola is the 2003 recipient of the Kriser Medallion from New York University's College of Dentistry, the highest honor awarded by the College of Dentistry. In 2005, The American Dental Education Association (ADEA) recognized DePaola's contribution by awarding him their most prestigious Distinguished Service Award. The AADR and the ADEA named DePaola as Chair of the newly established National Oral Health Advocacy Committee (NOHAC), a position he held from 2005-2007.
Since 2005, DePaola has served on the Western University of the Health Sciences Advisory Board for the Establishment of the New Dental School, Pomona, California. In 2006, DePaola was asked to serve as a consultant for the William Wrigley Company, Science Research Institute in Chicago, Ill. He also served as the Moderator of the Pfizer-sponsored Summit on Oral-Systemic Health and Chair of a Global Task Force whose charge was to publish a Consensus Report on the Summit's findings. DePaola is also a delegate of the Global Congress on Dental Education.
DePaola has been invited on numerous occasions to provide commencement addresses at dental schools as well as other four-year academic institutions. In March 2006, DePaola was invited to speak at Congressional Hearings related to Military Readiness and Quality of Life for Veteran's Affairs.
DePaola Chaired the T-32 Comprehensive Training Grant Study Section of the
NIDCR in 2007. Also, Dr. DePaola was a
featured speaker at the 2007 Macy Convocation on The Re-vitalization of US
Dental Schools as well as at the ADEA Commission for Change and Innovation
(CCI) Leadership Liaison Conference.