04 February 2026

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Dr. Lisa Simon to lead HSDM’s Initiative to Integrate Oral Health and Medicine

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Lisa Simon, DMD14, MD20, PD15, was recently appointed to serve as the new director of Harvard School of Dental Medicine’s (HSDM)  Initiative to Integrate Oral Health and Medicine. In this role, she will advance the Initiative’s strategic goals and lead medical-dental integration research and policy efforts aligned with its mission to bridge oral health and primary care.

A graduate of HSDM and Harvard Medical School (HMS), Simon’s career has been shaped by a longstanding interest in the divide between medicine and dentistry and its impact on patient care. In addition to her role as director, Simon serves as an assistant professor of Oral Health Policy and Epidemiology at HSDM, assistant professor of Medicine at HMS, and associate physician at Brigham & Women's Hospital.

What led you to this role?

I graduated from HSDM with a strong interest in research on the separation between medicine and dentistry and its consequences for patient care. That interest became much more concrete during my general practice residency at Cambridge Health Alliance, where I saw daily how that separation was actively harming my patients, even though the dental clinic was literally upstairs from the medical clinic.

I began to think that to truly enact change, I needed to understand both the medical and dental systems—becoming a “dual citizen.” While enrolled at HMS, I practiced as a general dentist at the Suffolk County Jail. I then completed an internal medicine residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in 2023, and I continue to practice there as a primary care physician. My NIH-funded research has focused on oral health policy and its impact on health outcomes. Returning to HSDM in this new role feels like a natural continuation of that trajectory.

How has caring for patients in a medical setting shaped your understanding of the gaps between oral health and primary care? Could you share an example of a case you’ve seen that illustrates this gap?

Tragically, I have seen more patients with unmet oral health needs while in medical practice than as a dentist. When I was a medical resident, a patient with leukemia was admitted to the hospital for what we call a “fever of unknown origin,” a serious infection in patients undergoing cancer treatment who often do not have a functioning immune system. The patient received IV antibiotics for days and underwent multiple tests to find the source of their fever. A CT scan of their head revealed multiple decayed teeth. The entire costly admission could have been prevented if the patient had been able to see a dentist, or if the medical team had thought to look in their mouth. Cases like this aren’t rare and regularly remind me how harmful the separation between medicine and dentistry can be when it comes to our patients’ health.

What is your vision for the Initiative to Integrate Oral Health and Medicine, and why is this work especially urgent right now?

The Initiative has a long and successful history of innovation and being a leader in the integration space. In many ways, its success has created an opportunity and necessity to sharpen its focus. My vision is for the Initiative to concentrate on generating rigorous evidence about how oral health policy and health system design can better support whole-person care, and on translating that evidence into actionable guidance.

We are facing a time of uncertainty that requires decisive, evidence-based policy recommendations—including for Medicare dental policy, preserving Medicaid dental benefits, and modeling novel reimbursement models that focus on keeping people healthy, not drilling and filling. The Initiative is uniquely poised to be that advisor!

You were the Initiative’s inaugural fellow before becoming its director. How has mentorship shaped your own path, and how do you hope to pay that forward in this role?

I’ve had exceptional mentorship at HSDM and HMS since I was a first-year dental student. I am especially indebted to Dr. Bruce Donoff, who was the first person I told about my intention to pursue medical training. His encouragement and support were instrumental in making that path feel possible. I owe so much of my career to him, and I know I am among generations of dentists and leaders who feel that way. I miss him terribly, but knowing that he was instrumental in founding the Initiative makes me even more grateful to step into this role and honor his commitment to integrating oral health and medicine through its work.

Looking ahead, what does success look like for the Initiative, and what impact do you hope it will have on patient care and policy?

In the near term, the Initiative will be undergoing a rebranding process that reflects both its history and a more clearly defined future direction. Longer term, success means being recognized as a trusted source of rigorous, interdisciplinary, evidence-based policy analysis in oral health and health care integration.

Equally important is translation, ensuring that our findings are accessible and useful to policymakers, clinicians, and patients. I hope the Initiative will consistently inform policy debates with high-quality evidence that is meaningful for all.

Source: https://www.hsdm.harvard.edu/