Dr. Sorin T. Teich has been named dean of the Bitonte College of Dentistry at Northeast Ohio Medical University.
Teich will join the college of dentistry on July 1, and the college will welcome its inaugural class in August 2025.
He previously served at the Medical University of South Carolina School of Dental Medicine in Charleston, where he served as a professor and the associate dean of clinical affairs.
"Dr. Teich is a highly respected leader in dental education and oral health," NEOMED President Dr. John Langell stated in a news release. "I am confident that his distinguished record of achievements and commitment to the success of students make him the right person to guide the university's new Bitonte College of Dentistry."
Dr. Forrest Faison, NEOMED provost, stated in the release that he met Teich during a national search for the dental college's first dean.
"His record of accomplishments and leadership achievements made him the clear choice to take the college forward into the future," Faison said. "I am looking forward to working with him and seeing the great things he will accomplish."
Dr. Teich also holds adjunct academic appointments at the Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry at the University of Southern California, and the School of Dental Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He previously was a professor and an associate dean at Case Western Reserve University School of Dental Medicine in Cleveland.
"I am honored and grateful to be named as the founding dean of the Bitonte College of Dentistry," Teich said in the release. "I look forward to being part of the NEOMED community, welcoming high-performing students who will have access to the latest innovations in dental medicine."
The dental college was named for the Bitonte family after Drs. Gary and David Bitonte donated $10 million in memory of their parents, Dominic Bitonte, who was a dentist, and Helen Bitonte, who worked to educate schoolchildren about proper dental care.
The dental school expects to graduate 50 dentists annually. It will be the third dental college in Ohio. The other two programs - at Ohio State University and Case Western Reserve University - graduate about 200 dentists each year.
Langell has said that the dental program is being created because oral health is one of Ohio's greatest unmet health needs. Langell has previously cited Kaiser Family Foundation data and an Ohio Department of Health map, which show that oral health is the top unmet health care need of Ohioans, and 77 of Ohio's 88 counties are Health Professional Shortage Areas for oral health.
Langell's predecessor, Jay Gershen, a dentist, first explored the idea of a dental college at NEOMED in 2014. But Langell said when he joined NEOMED, the college was not on his radar. Two of NEOMED's partners approached him immediately.
Teich has published more than 70 manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals focusing on evidence-based dentistry and dental materials, and lectures about these topics in the U.S. and overseas. He also is a scientific associate editor of Quintessence International Journal, Journal of Dental Traumatology, and a former member of the editorial review board of the Journal of Dental Education.
After his military service, Teich earned his doctor of medicine in dentistry from Hebrew University-Hadassah School of Dental Medicine in Jerusalem, where he also earned a certificate in prosthodontics. He also graduated from the Kellogg-Recanati International Executive MBA program with a joint degree from Tel Aviv University in Israel and Northwestern University in Chicago.