Dr. Schonfeld was born in New York. He received his education at the State University of New York at Stony Brook (BS in 1969) and New York University (DDS in 1973). He moved to the University of Southern California where he got his PhD and Certificate of Advanced Training in Periodontics.
He was a full-time faculty member at U.S.C. School of Dentistry from 1976-1991, and was chairman of both the Microbiology/Immunology and Periodontology Departments (but not at the same time). He is the author of over 70 academic papers, abstracts and book chapters and the recipient of several awards from the International Association for Dental Research. He was the principal investigator on a number of grants and contracts from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research and private corporations.
He lived and had a part-time periodontics practice in Huntington Beach. After 15 years as a full-time faculty member, he was getting tired of the commute, academic salary, academic politics and Southern California in general. Wednesday (private practice day) was his favorite day of the week. In 1991 he got a letter from a practice broker asking if he had any students interested in buying a periodontics practice in Eureka. He decided to take this one for himself, and gave up his tenured position and window office; closed his part/time practice, packed up his wife, 2 kids & dog and moved 750 miles north to practice in Humboldt County. He hasn't regretted it for a minute.
Dr. Schonfeld has been married for over 37 years. His wife Jane gardens, quilts, does needlepoint and serves the community as a member of Humboldt Sponsors. His children are grown and have moved away from Humboldt County. His hobbies include mountain biking &computers. He also rides a Harley. They both enjoy travelling to see their 3 grandchildren.
Dr. Schonfeld is a member of the National Dental Honor Society Omicron Kappa Upsilon and served as President of the USC Chapter; he is also a member of the International Honor Dental Organization, The Pierre Fauchard Academy. In addition, he is a Fellow of the American College of Dentists (FACD) and is a past president & CE chairman of the Humboldt-Del Norte Dental Society. He constructed and maintains the Humboldt Del Norte Dental Society Web Site (which was only the second independent component dental society website in the United States). He was a member of the Board of Trustees for the California Dental Association (CDA) and served on the Board of the California Dental Association Foundation. He was Chairman of the CDA Council on Education and Professional Relations & chaired an ad hoc committee to develop guidelines for assessing continuing competency in dentistry. He currently serves as President of the California Society of Periodontists. He was a delegate to the American Dental Association (ADA) from California and served on the ADA Council on Dental Education and Licensure, where he was the vice-chair. He currently serves on the appeals committee for the Commission on Dental Accreditation. He also previously served on an ADA Consensus Panel to evaluate Outcome Indicators in Dentistry and was the ADA-appointed member on the Network Professional and Technical Advisory Committee of the Joint Commission for the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. He chaired the ADA Liaison Committee for the American Academy of Periodontology, and served on the AAP Leadership Qualifications and Development Committee. He currently chairs the AAP State and Regional Assembly Coordinating Committee.
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