L-R: Henry Chinn, Caroline Shiboski, Dean John D.B. Featherstone, Troy Daniels, Daniel Ramos, Elena Ortega
 Naming the Oral Medicine Clinic in Sol Silverman’s memory is contingent upon a $1 million endowment. Donors already have given $502,500 toward the goal; a campaign is underway to raise the remainder. If you would like to contribute toward the fundraising goal, contact Lynnette Teti in the Office of Development and Alumni Relations. |
A reception on May 3 celebrated the opening of the Oral Medicine Clinic’s new location. In addition to looking ahead at the clinic’s future, it also paid tribute to the legacy of the late Sol “Bud” Silverman Jr., longtime professor of oral medicine who founded the clinic in 1956.
Caroline Shiboski and Dean Featherstone
Several dozen guests attended the reception. Caroline Shiboski, DDS, MPH, PhD, chair of the Department of Orofacial Sciences, announced that a $500,000 anonymous gift has been given toward renaming the clinic in Dr. Silverman’s memory.
In her remarks, Dr. Shiboski remembered Dr. Silverman as not only founder of the Oral Medicine Clinic (originally the Oral Medicine Stomatology Clinic), but one of the founding fathers of the discipline itself.
“I can’t think of any better way to honor him,” said Dr. Shiboski, one of many oral medicine specialists who trained under Dr. Silverman.
Dr. Silverman graduated from the UCSF School of Dentistry in 1954 and joined the faculty that same year, immersing himself in the then-young dental specialty field of oral medicine with professor Hermann Becks. Under Dr. Silverman’s stewardship, UCSF’s Department of Oral Medicine and Hospital Dentistry flourished and developed an interdisciplinary approach to education, research and patient care.
Over the course of his distinguished career, Dr. Silverman published many articles, book chapters and monographs. His publications now have a permanent home in the Sol Silverman Digital Library, curated after his passing in 2014. The library website, which will launch later this year, was previewed in the clinic during the reception.
An exam room in the new clinic
The new clinic space, which Oral Medicine occupied in January, is both cozy and cutting-edge. Its location, on the seventh floor of the Medical Sciences Building at UCSF’s Parnassus campus, will open new opportunities for working with other clinics and departments, Dr. Shiboski said.
Sharing some space with Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery will allow for a “nice collaboration” between the two clinics. Moreover, “our proximity to Oral Surgery will greatly facilitate referrals across clinics,” she said.
One feature of the new clinic space is a room designed with gurney access. “Patients can be wheeled straight from Moffitt [Hospital],” Dr. Shiboski said. “For hospital consults, it’s quite helpful.”