ari scientists
John S. Greenspan, BDS, PhD
John S. Greenspan has been since 1976 professor of oral biology and oral pathology in the School of Dentistry, University of California, San Francisco. He served as the Leland A. and Gladys K. Barber Professor (2001–2006) and dean for research of the School of Dentistry (2001–present). He was chair of the Department of Stomatology from 1988 to 2001. He is also a professor of pathology in the School of Medicine and is former chair of both the UCSF Academic Senate and the UC Systemwide Health Sciences Committee.
Dr. Greenspan is director of the AIDS Research Institute at UCSF and director of the UCSF AIDS Specimen Bank. He was director of the UCSF California AIDS Research Center from 1999 to 2005 and directed the Oral AIDS Center 1986–2005. He is a fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists, the American College of Dentists, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science; and a member of the American Academy of Oral Pathology, the American Society of Investigative Pathology, and other learned and professional societies.
In 1995, Dr. Greenspan was elected to membership in the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences of the U.S. He was chair of the Dentistry Section of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1992-1993, president of the American Association for Dental Research in 1988-1989, president of the IADR Experimental Pathology Group in 1983-1984, member of the Council on Dental Research of the American Dental Association 1987–1990, and president of the International Association for Dental Research 1996-1997. He was the Kreshover Lecturer at the NIDR in 1989 and was awarded the honorary degree of ScD by Georgetown University in 1990 and the Fellowship in Dental Surgery of the Royal College of Surgeons in England in 1998. He was a Burroughs Wellcome Professor of the (United Kingdom) Royal Society of Medicine for 1996-1997. In 1993 he received the Research in Oral Biology Award from IADR. He is a fellow, King’s College, University of London.
Dr. Greenspan's research interests include the oral aspects of AIDS and the role of viruses in oral epithelial and salivary gland lesions. He and his colleagues have made major contributions to HIV research and care, notably the discovery of the lesion hairy leukoplakia, its association with EBV, and the significance of this and other oral lesions in the natural history of HIV disease. He has published close to 300 papers and four books on oral aspects of AIDS, oral pathology, and immunopathology.
He has been a featured speaker at many international meetings and has presented over 250 research papers, clinics, and postgraduate courses. He received his BSc degree with first class honors in anatomy from the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine (University of London) in 1959, his BDS degree in 1963, and his PhD degree in experimental pathology from the Royal Dental Hospital School of Dental Surgery (University of London) in 1967. He was lecturer, then senior lecturer and consultant, in oral pathology at the Royal Dental School, 1963–1976, and consultant at St. George's Hospital in London.
