A Special Conversation with Dr. Leonard Kaban:
DMD, MD, FACS: Walter C. Guralnick Distinguished Professor and Chief, Emeritus of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at Harvard School of Dental Medicine and Massachusetts General Hospital
Dr. Leonard Kaban '65 served as Walter C. Guralnick Professor of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and Chairman of the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at Harvard School of Dental Medicine and Chief of the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Service at Massachusetts General Hospital from 1994 through 2015. He is now the Walter C. Guralnick Distinguished Professor and Chief, Emeritus of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at Harvard and Mass General.
Dr. Kaban is the author or co-author of 5 books and over 340 original papers on such topics as hemifacial microsomia, jaw tumors in children, vascular anomalies and reconstructive surgery. He is actively engaged in research on the biology and clinical applications of cranio-maxillofacial distraction osteogenesis, novel minimally invasive surgical techniques, and the biology and novel therapies for giant cell lesions and other mesenchymal tumors of the jaws. In the past, Dr. Kaban has published his research on wound healing in a fetal cleft lip model and induced osteogenesis using demineralized bone matrix. He has conducted numerous clinical studies involving distraction, reconstructive, craniofacial and orthognathic surgery, facial trauma, nerve injuries, facial asymmetry and jaw tumors in children.
Dr. Kaban received his Bachelor of Arts degree (cum laude) from Queens College of the City University of NY in 1965, his DMD (cum laude) from the Harvard School of Dental Medicine (HSDM) in 1969, his MD degree from Harvard Medical School in 1973 and completed the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (OMFS) Residency Program at the Massachusetts General Hospital in 1974. After training, Kaban joined the staff of the then Peter Bent Brigham Hospital and Children’s Hospital. He was the first full-time oral and maxillofacial surgeon at those institutions and built a successful OMFS service within the Division of Plastic and Oral Surgery. Dr. Kaban was on the staff of the Craniofacial Center at Children’s Hospital in Boston from 1974 through 1985, when he accepted the position of Professor and Chairman of the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at the University of California, San Francisco.
In 1992, Dr. Kaban received the Harvard School of Dental Medicine (HSDM) Distinguished Alumni Award, followed by the Silver Anniversary Award, in 1994. In 2003, Dr. Kaban received the Dean’s Award from Harvard Medical School for leadership in the advancement of women faculty. He has received the Research Recognition Award (1992) and the Daniel B. Osborn Award for Outstanding Educators (2004) from the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons. Dr. Kaban was honored to give the Presidential Address to the International Conference on Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery in Durban, South Africa in 2001. In 2007, he received the Norman Rowe Medal and delivered the Norman Rowe address to the British and American Associations of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery joint meeting in Scotland. In October 2011, Dr. Kaban received the Norton M. Ross Award for Excellence in Clinical Research from the American Dental Association. In October 2017, Dr. Kaban received the American Association of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeons Clinical Research Award recognizing his innovative and significant contributions to the field over the past 40 years. Also, in 2017, the Leonard B. Kaban, DMD, MD Chair in Pediatric Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery was established at Boston Children’s Hospital.
Dr. Kaban’s primary clinical interests include pediatric oral and maxillofacial surgery, mesenchymal jaw tumors, hemifacial microsomia, osteoinduction, and minimally invasive surgery. With co-editor Dr. Maria Troulis, he published the 2nd edition of Kaban’s Pediatric Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery in 2004.