Dr. Louis Lin: An Endodontist Returns to His Roots
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In the mid–1960’s, when Dr. Louis Lin began to practice dentistry, endodontics was not yet a recognized specialty in his native Taiwan. Pulp disease was treated by general dentists who lacked access to advanced education programs in endodontics. So in 1966, when Dr. Lin decided to pursue a career in endodontics, he left Taiwan for the United States to earn a U.S. dental degree, an advanced education certificate in endodontics and a PhD in pathology. Then he opened a private endodontics practice in New Jersey and joined the endodontics faculty at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey Dental School. Over the next 35 years, Dr. Lin became an expert in pulp and periapical biology, pathology and treatment. In 2000 he was appointed Professor and Chair of Endodontics at the University of California at Los Angeles, and in 2003 he became Professor of Endodontics at NYU and Director of the Advanced Education Program in Endodontics. "Dr. Lin is an internationally recognized scholar and clinician whose commitment to patient care, students and research has elevated the postgraduate program to national prominence," says Dr. Paul A. Rosenberg, Professor and Chair of the Dr. Ignatius N. and Sally Quartararo Department of Endodontics. "He is also an outstanding mentor who has forged enduring relationships with the program’s graduates." Yet Dr. Lin never forgot his roots. He travels frequently to Taiwan to encourage dentists there to specialize in endodontics, and to lecture about the causes of endodontic disease and the newest treatment strategies available to combat it. Thanks in part to his efforts, endodontics has been recognized as a certified specialty in Taiwan since 1995. Today, a half–dozen Taiwanese dental schools offer postdoctoral endodontic specialty training programs. More recently, Dr. Lin traveled to the People’s Republic of China, where the number of practicing endodontists is still relatively small. In November, he lectured on periapical disease treatment at the 10th annual China International Dental Symposium in Shanghai. "By sharing our knowledge," says Dr. Lin, "American educators like me ultimately hope to make endodontic care more available in the People’s Republic." |
