SEATTLE, WA, April 29, 2020 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Marquis Who's Who, the world's premier publisher of biographical profiles, is proud to present Samuel F. Dworkin with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award. An accomplished listee, Dr. Dworkin celebrates many years' experience in his professional network, and has been noted for achievements, leadership qualities, and the credentials and successes he has accrued in his field. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
Inspired by the teachers and professors he encountered throughout his college years, Dr. Dworkin pursued a career in dentistry, dental education as teacher and administrator, and orofacial pain research. Initially receiving a Bachelor of Science from the City College of New York, he earned a Doctor of Dental Surgery and a Certificate in Orthodontics from the New York University School of Dentistry. Dr. Dworkin has been awarded two honorary doctorate degrees, by Université Laval, Quebec, Canada and Malmo University, Malmo, Sweden.
Dr. Dworkin began his career in the private practice of dentistry in New York City. Motivated by his volunteer experience as a Clinical Dentist for an institution devoted to emotionally and behaviorally disturbed children he was awarded an NIH Special Fellowship to earn a Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology, from New York University's Graduate School and began a full-time academic and clinical career incorporating behavioral sciences into his dental teaching, administration, and research in acute and chronic orofacial pain, with a limited private dental practice.
He served first as assistant professor in the department of preventive dentistry and community health at the New York University College of Dentistry. Dr. Dworkin then dedicated several years in academic and administrative positions at the Columbia University School of Dental and Oral Surgery where he created and led an Office of Education and Behavioral Sciences. Dr. Dworkin was recruited to the University of Washington as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs with a joint appointment as (tenured) Professor in Oral Medicine, School of Dentistry and in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, School of Medicine. Major accomplishments as Associate Dean, included developing and supporting programs that brought medicine and dentistry together. An early effort was development of a regional dental education program, modeled after such a regional approach to medical education at the University of Washington, the multi-state ongoing WAMI program. The regional program in the School of Dentistry, recently re-constituted and expanded, allows dental students from rural states to receive dental training both at their state university and the University of Washington for increased access to dental care in underserved areas. He led the development of a program to train dentists and dental students in the care of emotionally and physically disabled individuals needing critical dental treatment—a program that has become a line item in the Washington state budget. Also, working directly with the School of Medicine's Executive Board, to which he was appointed, he led development of an integrated MD-DDS program that would yield dual degrees to clinicians who were capable of incorporating responsibility for expanded oral health care to be delivered by the same providers who delivered basic medical care undeserved areas. Unfortunately, the latter combined MD-DDS program was short-lived for complex reasons not related to their need.
During his research and clinical care career, Dr. Dworkin first worked to solve fears and anxieties people feel towards dentistry and dental pain. However, early in his career, he came to realize that not all of his patients' issues could be explained or managed solely by detecting and treating physical pathology--that is by relying solely on a biomedical approach to managing pain, especially chronic pain. His ensuing decades of continuously funded NIH research and related clinical care confirmed that chronic orofacial pain was a subset of the much larger domain of chronic pain. A bio-psycho-social model of disease was emerging in Medicine which his epidemiologic research championed. It clearly demonstrated that the most common chronic pain conditions were not only highly prevalent in the general population but were associated with behavioral, emotional and social impactful consequences. His research demonstrated that the most common chronic orofacial pain condition was overwhelmingly located in the region around the temporomandibular (jaw) joint and the surrounding large chewing muscles in the face, now commonly referred to as TMD. Moreover, his evidence showed that the prevalence of TMD-related chronic pain was exceeded in the U.S. only by persistent (non-migraine) headache and low back pain. Dr. Dworkin's research based on the bio-psycho social model led to a program of epidemiologic, observational and clinical trials studies yielded Research Diagnostic Criteria for TMD (RDC/TMD, a multiaxial system for assessing chronic TMD that incorporated pathology, behavioral and emotional states and environmental factors. It measured not only levels and locations of pain, and relevant biologic signs, but included assessment of TMD pain's impact on the daily lives of chronic pain sufferers. Information derived from studies using RDC/TMD also, very importantly, demonstrated that the major chronic pain conditions showed high co-morbidities—that is, those most impacted by suffering persistent chronic pain were in fact experiencing widespread pain. The common chronic pain conditions of persistent headache, low back pain, TMD but also including fibromyalgia, irritable bowel pain and pelvic disorders pain frequently were found to co-exist in the TMD population and the population of many sufferers of the other chronic pain disorders. His seminal research is acknowledged to be a significant contribution to how chronic pain is currently researched, diagnosed and managed . The impact of the RDC/TMD generated data led to Dr. Dworkin being subsequently honored by the NH Pain Consortium to co-lead a Task Force for Developing Research Standards or Chronic Back Pain, based on his analogous RDC/TMD efforts. The resulting product was a clinical research instrument incorporated in all NIH supported back pain research The RDC/TMD has further evolved, with Dr. Dworkin's early participation and guidance into an evidence based instrument validated for use as a clinical diagnostic and management instrument labelled Diagnostic Criteria for TMD (DC/TMD). This RDC/TMD to DC/TMD evolution from research to evidence-based use in clinical care was enhanced through the integrated efforts of an International Consortium for TMD Research which Dr. Dworkin established with NIH funding. Leadership of that Consortium was passed to his former U.S and international mentees and colleagues now prominent in the field and the Consortium has been established as a component of the International Association for Dental Research.
For his professional accomplishments, Dr. Dworkin has accrued several accolades and honors, including numerous grants from the National Institutes of Health. He has been additionally presented with the Wilbert E. Fordyce Clinical Investigator Award from the American Pain Society, the Norton M. Ross Award from the American Dental Association, and the Dental Research Giddon Award from the International Association for Dental Research. His civic efforts included establishing, with his wife, the League of Parents of Hearing Impaired Infants, the New York State Parents of Hearing Impaired Children and serving as a consultant to the Lexington School of Deaf. He has been associated since its founding with Seattle Pro Musica, now a nationally and internationally recognized leading choral arts organization, where he has served over several decades as Board President and now as Advisory Board member. Professionally, Dr. Dworkin has been active as a member since their conception, of the International Association for Study of Pain and the American Pain Society. He remains an emeritus member or supporter of the American Psychological Association, the American Association of Dental Schools and both the International and American Associations for Dental Research.
Today, Dr Dworkin is a Professor Emeritus in both the dental and medical schools. In addition, he continues to flourish as a consultant and reviewer for NIH, the American Dental Association, the International Association for Dental Research, the International Associations for the Study of Pain, the American Pain Society and other professional journals.
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