Editor Name: Paul F. Van Der Stelt

Designation: Emeritus Professor and Visiting Professor

University: Academic Center for Dentistry Amsterdam (ACTA)

Country: Netherlands (Holland, Europe)

Biography: Paul F. van der Stelt obtained the dental degree in 1974 from the Vrije Universiteit at Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He received his PhD in 1979 for a study entitled “Periapical Bone Lesions; an experimental study into noticing periapical bone lesions and the effect of color conversion". He was appointed as chairman of the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology in 1980. In 1984-85, he spent a sabbatical leave at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA. He became Professor of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology at the Academic Center of Dentistry Amsterdam (ACTA; the combined Schools of Dentistry of the Vrije Universiteit and the University of Amsterdam) in 1986. In 2008 he was appointed head of the Department of General and Specialized Dentistry, including the sections of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Orthodontics, Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology and the student clinics for comprehensive dental care of ACTA. His research interests are: digital imaging and image processing in dental radiography, 2D and 3D visualization of radiographic image data, and the assessment of diagnostic performance of x-ray imaging systems. He has published more than 150 articles in international peer-reviewed journals and book-chapters as first author or co-author. His involvement in digital diagnostic imaging lead in 2000 to the complete conversion of ACTA from film-based to digital imaging. This made ACTA the first Dental School in the world to be completely film-less. He is a frequently invited key-note speaker at national and international meetings and is giving courses on various aspects of oral and maxillofacial radiology in the Netherlands and abroad. He is the initiator of, and is now responsible for the continuing education course on Radiation Protection for dentists and oral surgeons, which is set obligatory by the Inspectorate for Health Care to dentists in the Netherlands in order to obtain or keep their license to use x-ray equipment. He is member of several national and international professional organizations and committees in the field of Oro-Maxillo-Facial Radiology and Dental Research. He was Honorary Secretary of the European Academy of Dental and Maxillofacial Radiology (2004-2010). He is also Immediate Past-President of the International Association of Dento-Maxillo-Facial Radiology (2007-2009). He retired in January 2013, but is still active as emeritus-professor in several committees of the Dutch Dental Association and the Ministry of Health. He also is supervising PhD-students and active in giving courses and lectures.