Jun 27, 2008 11:05 AM

Former faculty member endows chair

The School of Dentistry has named Associate Professor Mo Kwan Kang as the first person to hold the Dr. Jack A. Weichman Chair in Endodontics.

The chair was created by a gift from Jack Weichman and his wife, Geraldine, to support the teaching and research activities of an "academic endodontist," of which there is a severe national shortage. The dental school teaches endodontics — also known as root canal therapy — to students in its four-year doctor of dental surgery degree program as well as to graduate dentists enrolled in a two-year residency training program.

"We are thrilled to recognize the Weichmans' generosity by naming Professor Mo Kang the first beneficiary of this endowed chair," said Dean No-Hee Park. "Jack Weichman made an enormous contribution to this specialty, and an endowed chair in endodontics demonstrates our commitment to training the next generation of specialists in this area."

A pioneer in the field of endodontics in Southern California, Jack Weichman was at one time one of only four practicing endodontists in Los Angeles County. A former faculty member of the UCLA School of Dentistry and the USC, Weichman is a Diplomate of the American Board of Endodontics. After 25 years of professional success, first, as a general dentist and then as an endodontics specialist, Weichman made a career change in the 1970s to devote himself to the law. He currently serves as an arbitrator/mediator for several courts in the Los Angeles area.

Jack Weichman has been a member of the UCLA School of Dentistry’s Board of Counselors, a non-governing body of volunteer advisers to the dean, since 2001. Committed philanthropists, the Weichmans also established the school's Weichman Endodontic Clinic.

"I am very pleased to have the opportunity to advance the study of endodontics at UCLA, through the clinic as well as the endowed chair," explained Jack Weichman. "I was fortunate enough to be at the forefront of an emerging specialty in dentistry, and now I have the wonderful experience of encouraging a new cadre of colleagues, including Professor Kang, who is engaged in meaningful work on oral diseases."

Mo Kwan Kang has spent the full course of his educational and professional career at UCLA. He graduated from UCLA for the first time in 1994 with a B.S degree in biochemistry, then completed an M.S. degree in the same subject the following year. Next, he became the first person to graduate from UCLA’s combined D.D.S.-Ph.D. program, receiving his doctorate in oral biology in 2000 and the doctor of dental surgery degree in 2001. In 2003, Kang completed the postgraduate/residency training program in endodontics.

Kang is a practicing endodontist, an educator and a scientist. Kang’s research interest lies in the mechanisms of oral mucosal diseases, including oral cancer and the mouth ulcers resulting from chemo- or radiation therapy. His research is supported by grants from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research of the National Institutes of Health, the American Association of Endodontists and the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Foundation.

He is a member of the American Association for Cancer Research, the American and the International Associations for Dental Research, and the American Association of Endodontists. At UCLA, he is a member of the Dental Research Institute as well as the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Kang will hold the Dr. Jack A. Weichman Chair beginning July 1 and for the duration of his service as chair of the section of endodontics in the school’s division of associated clinical specialties.

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