Lasting Impressions | Fall 2015

36 © NSU LASTING IMPRESSIONS Faculty Impressions MalcolmMeister, D.D.S., M.S.M., J.D., remembers when he interviewed candidates for the Graduate Program in Orthodontics at the NSU College of Dental Medicine that would begin in August 1997. “We stood on an area of green grass proposed as the future site of the dental school. I told them there was going to be a building here, and they believed me. We were able to select an excellent group from the appli- cants who had outstanding academic records and a bit of the adventurous spirit,” he recalled. Their learning began at the Broward College of Dental Hygiene, recalls Meister, before the building was completed. “In January of 1997, when the College of Dental Medicine opened, we moved into the new building.” Meister was chairman of the department of orthodontics for 10 years when he retired in 2007 and remembers the first few years getting the pro- gram on its feet. “There were many established programs throughout the country that already had a reputation. We were the new kids on the block and had to demonstrate our ability to offer a good education. We assem- bled an outstanding faculty by finding and recruiting retired academi- cians and exceptional Florida orthodontists who were willing to partici- pate. We circulated our new beginning in the dental journals, and because Orthodontics is a small, but popular, specialty of dentistry, our presence and availability grew rapidly. We’ve been able to select very bright and interesting men and women, which made it very interesting for me,” said Meister, who adds that in his 18 years at CDM—10 as chairman and 8 as a lecturing professor—he’s been privileged to watch the applicant pool grow. Today, the application pool for the Orthodontic Residency Graduate Program exceeds 300, of which, 7 are selected to enter. The applicant pool The CDM’s Founding Father of Orthodontics Stays Active BY MICHELLE F. SOLOMON