DOI: 10.1097/SCS.0b013e3181b0dbea
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Issn Print: 1049-2275
Publication Date: 2009/09/01
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Excerpt
London, England: World Scientific Publisher, 2008; $240
When I received the announcement for the publication of a biography on Dr Sarnat, I became very excited. I had personal knowledge of his work and experience working with him that will make the book review very useful to the readers of the Journal of Craniofacial Surgery. I have had the ultimate pleasure of knowing Dr Sarnat personally and professionally since my time at UCLA in the 1980s. I remember the suggestions that I run a number of my research ideas past this "guy" Bernie Sarnat. The group at UCLA would portray Bernie as the ultimate physician scientist in craniofacial developmental biology. I went off to my assigned mission to develop a working relationship with Dr Sarnat. I would discuss a potential project or idea with a facet of craniofacial development. Bernie would look at me and, in his usual low key demeanor, inform me that he had already completed an experimental model detailing that topic many years ago. A few days later, I would receive in the campus mail a published article with some handwritten notes detailing his thoughts how I might modify my proposal and ask the question in a different light. This would enable me to pursue my proposal. This was the start of a lifelong mentorship and role model for the development of my own academic career. To this day, I still seek Dr Sarnat's advice on various research subjects and feel his paternal interest and pride in my academic achievements. More so, I still consider him a friend.
In addition, and as an imperative information, because the book is about the autobiography of a great man, my father, who was a periodontist, completed his dental school education at the University of Illinois. As you will discover, this institution was the proverbial epicenter of advanced innovative dental research in the late 1930s and early 1940s in the realm of craniofacial developmental biology. This was basically because of the teamwork of Dr Sarnat and his esteemed mentor Dr Isaac Schour. These individuals provided the attentive environment for innovative research and basic science endeavors, which laid the foundation for the clinical practice of craniofacial surgery. My father often discussed these individuals with awe. It was enlightening for me to actually learn the background and see the faces in photos of these people who I had heard of on numerous occasions. Significant research included the effects of mandibular condylectomy on young monkeys. This resulted in the first of many prizes for research in plastic surgery that Dr Sarnat was able to accomplish. Another area of experimentation was the production of complete surgical clefts of the hard and soft palate in young monkeys. Again, Dr Sarnat was given an important plastic surgery research award. This was the first occurrence that an individual was able to win both the junior and the senior research awards in plastic surgery. From these studies, Dr Sarnat then became further involved investigating the temporomandibular joint, cancer involving the oral cavity and face, and telephone courses to share knowledge with his international colleagues. Other significant contributions that is included in the book are the mandibular growth pattern in experimental animals using vital stains, the growth of the nasal bone and septum in rabbits, the display of phosphorous bands on the base of the skull at the spheno-occipital and spheno-ethmoidal synchondroses, and the nature of sutural, appositional, and resorptive bone growth.
