Jack D. Gerrow

Spring 2018 Honorary Degree Recipient

Doctor of Laws (honoris causa)

Dr. Jack D. Gerrow has made a profound and lasting mark on how dentistry is taught and evaluated, both in Canada and abroad. As the Chair and Registrar of the National Dental Examining Board (NDEB) for 24 years, he used scientific methods to increase the quality and fairness of evaluations and licensing exams, developing techniques that have been adopted internationally. As a Dalhousie professor, Dr. Gerrow was instrumental in implementing a zero-based curriculum review, a process which involves starting with a blank slate and rebuilding the curriculum from the ground up. He tirelessly advocated for the evaluation of dental competencies, the specific skillsets that dental students must demonstrate before becoming independent practitioners.

Dr. Gerrow grew up in Waterford, Ontario. He earned his DDS from the University of Toronto in 1979 and went on to complete a Master of Science and Certificate in Prosthodontics at the University of Iowa in 1985. He began his teaching career at Dalhousie later that year. While at Dalhousie, he completed a Master of Education degree and received numerous honours, including awards for Teaching Excellence from the Alumni Association and from the Association of Canadian Faculties of Dentistry. Now Professor Emeritus, Dr. Gerrow lives in Ottawa, where he retired from the NDEB in late 2017. He was recently appointed executive director of the Canadian Dental Regulatory Authorities Federation and adjunct professor at the University of Toronto. Dr. Gerrow received the 2018 Gies Award for Innovation in Dental Education. This is his first honorary degree.