Former JADA Foundational Science associate editor was 'tremendous asset to dentistry'

E. Dianne Rekow, D.D.S., Ph.D., died Aug. 11

A past associate editor of JADA Foundational Science and a member of the Henry Schein Inc. Board of Directors died Aug. 11.

E. Dianne Rekow, D.D.S., Ph.D., served as an associate editor during the journal's first year, helping to define its goals, outline the roles of the associate editors and suggest potential authors, said Jack L. Ferracane, Ph.D., editor-in-chief of JADA Foundational Science.

"Dianne was a great friend. She was a warm human being who was intelligent, creative, collaborative and genuinely compassionate," Dr. Ferracane said. "She was a tremendous asset to dentistry and dental research on so many levels, and her positive influence was experienced internationally. She will be greatly missed by the entire profession."

Dr. Rekow was a leader in the development of digital dentistry, receiving her first grant awards from the National Institutes of Health in the mid-1980s to study computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing for dental restorations. She co-authored several awarded patents for automated fabrication technologies.

Dr. Rekow was a professor emeritus and fellow at King's College London, where she served as executive dean of its Dental Institute and professor of orthodontics from 2012-16. She previously worked at New York University, where she was a professor of orthodontics, senior vice provost of engineering technology and provost of the Polytechnic Institute. She was also a senior scholar at the Santa Fe Group, a think tank dedicated to improving life through oral health.

Dr. Rekow was an internationally known authority on the performance of new dental materials, and her teams researched the use of bioengineered tissue to facilitate bone replacement in individuals affected by disease or developmental defects. She authored or contributed to more than 100 publications and was highly sought after as an invited speaker for research groups, universities and other organizations in more than two dozen countries.

Dr. Rekow's career also included serving as president of both the International Association for Dental Research and the American Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research. In 2012, she was elected to the Faculty of Dental Surgery of the Royal College of Surgeons in the U.K.