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bituary

ames Alfred Alexander Hood (1938–2007)

he outstanding dental biomaterials and biomechanics edu-ator and scientist, James (Jim) Hood, passed away at the agef 69 in his native New Zealand. His funeral was held at Knoxhurch, Dunedin on 21st November 2007. Prof Hood is sur-ived by his wife, Dr Lynley Hood, and three children, David,hristina and Lyndon.

Prof Hood grew up in Queenstown, NZ, and completedis high school studies at Otago Boys High School. He sub-equently gained a BSc in chemistry from Otago Universityn 1962 and a bachelor of dental surgery in 1965, before join-ng the staff of the university dental school, with successiveromotions to full Professor in 1999.

He gained a US Public Health Service International Post-octoral Research Fellowship in 1972–1973 and undertook twoeriods of sabbatical research at the University of Michigan,972–1973 and 1982–1983, the latter also as a Fulbright Scholar.

Initially, Jim Hood was responsible for teaching dental

aterials to undergraduate and postgraduate students andade very significant improvements in the teaching of the

ubject. At first, when he had taken over the dental materi-ls class, it was “more like a cookery class”, where students

learned how to mix the various restorative materials with “nounderstanding of why they were doing things, or what theycould do to improve them”! He introduced a high level of sci-entific rigor into the teaching. For many years he served as aconsultant on dental materials for the New Zealand Ministryof Defence. In 1995, he was promoted to Lieutenant Coloneland served as Colonel Commandant of the Royal New ZealandDental Corps until 2005.

James Hood was internationally acknowledged for inno-vative research in several areas, particularly biomechanics,including the effect of forces on tooth structures. He achievedseveral significant ‘world first’ research findings, especiallyconcerning cuspal deformations resulting from photo-polymerization of resin-composites. He was deeply involved inresearch involving biomaterials plus other aspects of restora-tive dentistry, and biomechanics—using laser displacementmeasurements. His extensive publications span four decades.

He made a major contribution to the New Zealand den-tistry profession over the years, including helping to educatemore than 2000 students, and was widely lauded as a superbteacher. As a diligent academic colleague and deputy dean ofthe Faculty of Dentistry he was regarded as “the conscience ofthe Otago Dental School”.

Diagnosed with leukemia in 2002, Prof Hood maintained hisappetite for work and his very optimistic outlook, although hehad been in and out of hospital.

He remained a keen reader and gardener, planting manyazaleas and rhododendrons in the family garden in recentyears. His interest in photography could also be traced to hischildhood, as also his love for wilderness exploration and hik-ing trips in Central Otago.

David WattsUniversity of Manchester, UK

7 August 2008

0109-5641/$ – see front matterdoi:10.1016/j.dental.2008.08.004