A Life in the Pursuit of Knowledge: Having identified more than 100 syndromes and diseases in a career spanning nearly six decades, Dr. Robert J. Gorlin earns the ADA’s Gold Medal Award for Excellence in Dental Research

Abstract

Orofacial geneticist Robert J. Gorlin, D.D.S., M.S., is the 2003 recipient of the ADA Gold Medal Award for Excellence in Dental Research. Credited with discovering more than 100 syndromes and diseases, Dr. Gorlin has, for almost five decades, pioneered clinical and basic research in a wide range of disciplines, from oral pathology and craniofacial genetics to otolaryngology and even obstetrics. The seventh recipient of the Association’s highest honor for research, he joins a small and highly distinguished group of dental investigators. Previous winners of the award, which is given only every three years, include Drs. Basil Bibby, William Bowen, Takao Fusayama, Robert Genco, Harald Loe and Irwin Mandel. “I’m truly surprised and certainly elated,” said Dr. Gorlin, after learning of the award. “I don’t know who nominated me, but I’m quite flattered.” Adds ADA President Dr. T. Howard Jones, “It is indeed a pleasure for the ADA to honor Dr. Gorlin for his numerous contributions to dental and medical health science and research.” Since graduating from Washington University School of Dental Medicine in 1947, Dr. Gorlin has been at the forefront of identifying new or previously undiagnosed orofacial disorders. His landmark initial descriptions of a number of syndromes and diseases include some that bear his name, such as Gorlin’s Cyst (calcifying odontogenic cyst) and Gorlin’s Syndrome (nevoid basal cell carcinoma syndrome). “Discoveries you make along the way, and get surprised by—that’s the light for me. It’s very exciting, there’s nothing routine about it,” he says. “It’s been fun trying to find how syndromes work, and the hope of finding out more.” A past winner of the ADA Norton M. Ross Award for Excellence in Clinical Research, Dr. Gorlin has authored more than 600 articles in scientific journals and books, much of that time while serving as chair of the Division of Pathology at the University of Minnesota, where he now is the Regents’ Professor Emeritus of Oral Pathology. His notable textbook, “Syndromes of the Head and Neck,” is now in its fourth edition. “Dr. Gorlin’s incredibly long list of awards, A Life in the Pursuit of Knowledge Having identified more than 100 syndromes and diseases in a career spanning nearly six decades, Dr. Robert J. Gorlin earns the ADA’s Gold Medal Award for Excellence in Dental Research