A new division of the Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC will provide students, residents, and faculty of the Ostrow School access to unique educational, clinical and research opportunities in oral and maxillofacial surgery.

Announced by Ostrow School of Dentistry Dean Avishai Sadan on November 26, 2013, the Division of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery will encompass educational activities related to the Ostrow Advanced Program in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, located at the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, and the Oral Surgery Clinic, located in the Norris Dental Science Center.

This new division will be chaired by Mark Urata ’85, DDS ’89, OMFS ’93, MD ’96, General Surgery ’99, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery ’02, Craniofacial Surgery ’03. Urata joins the Ostrow School of Dentistry as Associate Professor of Clinical Dentistry via a joint appointment with the Keck School of Medicine of USC. He is board-certified in both Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and Plastic Surgery and is currently associate professor of plastic surgery, the Audrey Skirball-Kenis Chair and chief of the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery of the Keck School of Medicine. He is also head of the Division of Plastic and Maxillofacial Surgery at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles and director of Craniomaxillofacial Surgery at Cedars Sinai Medical Center.

“This unprecedented alliance between the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at the Keck School of Medicine and the new Division of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at the Ostrow School of Dentistry will create a unified initiative of two distinct residencies,” Sadan said. “The collaboration of research, education, clinical practice and global initiatives will create the most visionary academic enterprise in North America for both disciplines.”

Sadan added that both students and faculty would benefit from a range of opportunities not normally available in traditional oral and maxillofacial surgery programs.

“Dr. Urata will oversee the expansion of both the scope and volume of clinical activities at the Oral Surgery Clinic in the Norris Dental Science Center as well as the range of oral and maxillofacial surgical services offered at our Faculty Practice in the Engemann Student Health Center,” he said. “In addition, via his longstanding research collaboration with Ostrow’s Center for Craniofacial Molecular Biology, Dr. Urata will work to develop opportunities for research collaboration, especially in the area of translational research.”