Donald B. Giddon, MA, DMD, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Developmental Biology (Behavioral Medicine and Dentistry) at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Harvard University, has a distinguished career spanning academia and clinical practice. He is also Clinical Professor Emeritus of Behavioral and Social Sciences at Brown University School of Public Health and Consultant in Psychology at BW/MGH Pain Management Center.

While serving as dean of the New York University College of Dentistry, he was Professor of Anesthesiology at the NYU School of Medicine and Psychology in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

After earning a BA in psychology from Brown and an MA in psychology from Boston University, Dr. Giddon received a DMD and a post-doctoral certificate in Periodontology and Oral Medicine at MGH and HSDM, which still included the first two years at HMS and passing the National Medical Boards Part 1, followed by a PhD in psychology from Brandeis University. 

Dr. Giddon is the author of more than 150 published articles, abstracts, reviews, and books on self-image, the psychophysiology of stress and disease, pain and facial deformity, and the anthropometric bases of the perception of normal and dysmorphic facial and body appearance.  He has been a mentor for many pre and postdoctoral students.  He has championed the integration of oral health with overall physical and mental health, while espousing training dentists to become and be renamed oral physicians to better reflect what biomedically trained graduates of HSDM are, can, and should be contributing to overall healthcare.

In his later years, Dr. Giddon became one of the only HSDM faculty members to teach Harvard College undergraduates as a Knowles Scholar at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences a course on Stress and Disease. 

In addition to being honored as a Fulbright Scholar and member of Sigma XI, Dr. Giddon is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, American and International College of Dentists, American Public Health Association, American Psychological Association, International College of Psychosomatic Medicine, and Royal Society of Medicine, and a Charter Founding member of the American Pain Society.

The Professor Donald B. Giddon Conference Room at HSDM houses a dedicated collection of Dr. Giddon's publications on behavioral sciences and healthcare, supporting research, training, and practice in dental medicine. This collection is accessible to the Harvard research community by appointment through the Dean’s Office. For inquiries and appointments, please email dean@hsdm.harvard.edu.