Michael C. Alfano, D.M.D., Ph.D., was named NYU’s Executive Vice President by President John Sexton in June 2006.  As executive vice president, he oversees the University's budget and finance operations, the human relations division, and the real estate, planning, and construction operations.

Prior to being named Executive Vice President, Dr. Alfano was Dean of the NYU College of Dentistry, a post he had held since 1998; he continues as a professor of basic science and craniofacial biology at the College of Dentistry. Prior to that post, he was the Senior Vice President for research and technology and a member of the Board of Directors at the Block Drug Company, Inc, now a unit of Glaxo Smith Kline. At Block he was responsible for all research, technology and quality assurance on a global basis.

Dr. Alfano is a highly respected and innovative educator, practitioner, researcher, and industry professional. Throughout his career, his professional focus has been on enhancing oral and general health through better therapy, public education, and challenging the dental profession to become even more effective. During the last three decades, he has worked to promote improved communications among academic, industrial, and government scientists; regulatory agencies; and the public. In addition, he has led in the development and clinical evaluation of new products for both the dental and pharmaceutical industries.

Dr. Alfano did his undergraduate training at Rutgers University and earned his D.M.D. degree from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. He attended the Harvard University School of Dental Medicine as a trainee in periodontics. He holds a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a certificate in periodontics from Fairleigh Dickinson University, where he taught for eight years, becoming the youngest tenured professor on campus; serving as assistant dean and chairman of oral biology; and founding the Oral Health Research Center.

Prior to joining NYU, Dr. Alfano practiced general dentistry in Massachusetts and periodontics in New Jersey and served as a member of the National Advisory Dental Research Council of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). He is a former chairman of the American Dental Education Association (ADEA) Council of Deans, past-president of the Student Clinicians of the American Dental Association (ADA), member of the Future of Dentistry Committee of the ADA, the ADA Foundation's Planning Committee for the National Campaign for Dental Education, the ADEA Commission for Change and Innovation in Dental Education, and the Association of Academic Health Centers' Advisory Committee on Health Professions Workforce Shortages.

Dr. Alfano is a founding director of both the Friends of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) and the Santa Fe Group. He has chaired the only NIH Consensus Conference on Dental Caries; was a featured speaker at the 2003 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services/ADA-cosponsored Consensus Conference on Terrorism Preparedness, and in 2004 presented testimony before Congress in support of government funding for oral health research being conducted by the NIH and the NIDCR, general and pediatric dentistry training programs, and access to dental care initiatives.

Honors include the American Association for Dental Research's Jack Hein Public Service Award, which recognizes NYUCD's leadership in defining a role for dentistry in building national emergency preparedness; the ADA Health Foundation's Dr. Edward B. Shils Award for Social Entrepreneurship and the Public-Private Partnership; honorary fellowship in the American Academy of Oral Medicine; and the 2005 Maes-MacInnes Award presented by the NYU College of Nursing in recognition of an outstanding contribution which has made a singular impact on the nursing profession.