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Harald A. LöeThe Fifty-sixth President of the IADR, 1979–81Paul G. Rogers Ambassador for Global Health Research, lkcohen1{at}verizon.net
Harald A. Löe, the 56th President of the International Association for Dental Research (1979–81), died at his home in Østerås, Norway, on Saturday, August 9, 2008, at 82 years of age. Harald was born and raised in Norway, where he earned his dental degree from Oslo University in 1952. He was awarded a Fulbright Research Fellowship to come to the University of Illinois’ School of Dentistry in Chicago, where he later earned a PhD in oral pathology (1961). The following year, he was appointed Professor and Chair for the Department of Periodontology at the Royal Dental College in Åarhus, Denmark, where he rose to become Dean in 1972. In 1966–67, he took a leave of absence to serve as a Visiting Professor at the Hebrew University’s Hadassah School of Dental Medicine in Jerusalem. In 1972, Harald returned to the US, when he accepted the Directorship of the Dental Research Institute at the University of Michigan. From there, he was recruited in 1975 to be Professor and Dean of the School of Dental Medicine at the University of Connecticut. Throughout all those years as an administrator and as an educator, he managed to stay engaged in research, publishing widely (particularly in the fields of periodontal pathology, epidemiology, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention), and editing several books, including work in the emerging area of gerodontology. Harald was one of the first to apply the scientific method directly to clinical problems by developing and validating reproducible indices for dental plaque, gingivitis, and dental caries. Using these, he and his many collaborators were able to demonstrate conclusively that plaque is the primary etiologic factor in both caries and gingivitis. Further studies of the microbiota of developing plaque over time allowed for the identification of changes in the flora that caused caries and gingivitis. This work laid the basis for the focus on plaque control that is the cornerstone of modern dental practice, and led to the inclusion of antibacterial agents in toothpastes, mouthwashes, and solutions used to irrigate periodontal pockets. It was in 1979 that he became President of the IADR and served for two consecutive terms, when the then-President-elect, John Gray, stepped down from the Board of Directors to assume the post of Executive Director of the IADR. In 1983, his extraordinary research record and his skills for executive management were recognized as he became the fifth director of the then-National Institute of Dental Research at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland (Harris, 1989). It was in that position that I came to know Harald even better, since he was my direct supervisor (in my capacity as Director of the Office of Planning, Evaluation and Communications, Assistant Director for International Health, and later as the Director of the Extramural Program). He was a major intellectual force, not only as the Institute grew, but also in my career as a senior executive. He was a visionary who was able to articulate new dreams and realities (Löe, 1984), and he was able to mobilize NIDR staff and over 150 external science experts to develop a long range-plan for the 1980s. In that plan, entitled Challenges for the Eighties (USDHHS, 1983), new directions related to emerging health problems were identified, as well as the need to bolster dental research labor-force capacity, particularly with clinician-scientists, and the need to accelerate the transfer of knowledge from research to practice, with emphasis on the critical role of prevention and health promotion. Under Harald’s leadership, the research portfolio of the NIDR was broadened even further in the Long-Range Plan of the Nineties (Broadening the Scope) (USDHHS, 1994). In reflecting on Harald’s legacy, I find myself repeating what I said about him on June 23rd, 2008, on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the NIDCR. It was under Harald Löe’s administration that the Institute’s budget was first doubled, from almost $80 million to almost $170 million. He extended our research horizons to encompass the perspective of the human body and how the oral cavity and supporting structures reflect what goes on in the rest of the human organism. He supported and reported on national epidemiological surveys on the oral health of children and older Americans. He conceived and led the effort for the Regional Centers for Minority Oral Health, the precursor to the Centers to Reduce Oral Health Disparities and the first such centers at the NIH. He led the effort to establish the Dentist-Scientist Award program to bolster clinical science research in dentistry, and promoted the internationalization of NIDR’s research agenda as the NIDR increased its role in the World Health Organization (WHO) International Collaborating Center for Dental Research and Training. With the encouragement of a Congressional directive, he created 30 centers for oral health research around the country, providing critical infrastructure for the study of specific diseases and conditions as well as their prevention and treatment. Harald Löe received many honors during his productive lifetime. He received honorary doctorates from, among others, Gothenburg University (Sweden), Athens University (Greece), the University of Leuven (Belgium), Åarhus University (Denmark), the University of Lund (Sweden), Georgetown University (US), the University of Bergen (Norway), and the University of Maryland (US). He has been honored by the first President George Bush, US Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, King Olav of Norway, and Denmark’s Queen Margrethe with their respective awards of merit, and was elected to membership in the Institute of Medicine, the US National Academies of Sciences. But as Harald himself wrote only a couple of months before his death, "... I think my time in the Institute was especially interesting, important and meaningful. I continue to be proud of the Institute’s past and current scientific endeavors and its impact on oral health improvements around the world...." Harald was proud indeed of the impact of research on improving the lives of people around the world. That was no empty message, but one that he mentioned so often in his writing, his speaking, and during more informal conversations. I am so grateful for the opportunity to have learned from him, to have been mentored, and, most importantly, to have been counted as one of his friends. Harald was married to Inga for more than 60 years, and she was a great supporter of his career and an ideal hostess for the many colleagues whom they entertained so elegantly in their home. They have two children, Haakon and Marianne, and four grandchildren. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am indebted to the contributions of memory offered by John Gray, Dushanka Kleinman, William McHugh, and Marie Nylen in helping me reconstruct our shared experiences with Harald Löe. REFERENCES
Journal of Dental Research, Vol. 87, No. 10,
893 (2008)
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