I was born and raised in the Montreal area and McGill was the only school I ever considered going to. Even in those days McGill was a world-class institution and I had no desire to go elsewhere.
If it weren't for my studies at McGill, I wouldn't have done the things that I did. McGill gave me the opportunity and the background to enable me to go forward and accomplish what I did over the years inside and outside of the Faculty. My McGill experience prepared me to be a teacher, clinician and leader, while giving me the ability to acquire as much knowledge as possible.
When I first started out in dental school. I certainly had no thought of doing anything other than going out into general practice dentistry. That changed along the way as I met more teachers. I was introduced to oral surgery in my third year of Dentistry and the chair of the department at the time was a double degree man with a dental degree and a medical degree. He took me under his wing and exposed me to the various aspects of surgery. I decided that I would go into Medicine after Dentistry. As I completed my four years of Medicine and my residency, I knew I wanted to be able to use my dental background in more ways than one. I decided to study oral and maxillofacial surgery in New York and then came back to McGill and took up a full-time academic position at the University.
I loved being an educator and a clinician. I was entitled to one day of practice per week, and the rest was devoted to teaching, administration, and research. The thing that I really enjoyed the most was teaching. There was nothing more rewarding than to have a student who would come into a program, literally knowing nothing, and at the end had acquired sufficient knowledge that they were now a pro.
As Dean, my goal was to maintain the standards of the Faculty. I tried to emulate the educators who had impressed me when I was a student. In particular, one teacher’s belief was that you taught all students to the same degree, you taught them to the best of your ability. And I always tried to set the bar high so that I knew that my students would come out well prepared.
As an educator, I learned you must not be an authoritarian. I enjoyed imparting knowledge, but in a way that was kind and gentle and not derogatory or authoritarian, always treating the students in the way that I would like them to treat me. I treated students with respect and integrity. And in turn, you earned their respect back. It’s a two-way street.