First dentist named chief of staff of a VA Medical Center

Boise, Idaho鈥擠r. Paul M. Lambert, an oral and maxillofacial surgeon with a passion for climbing mountains, professional and natural, has been named chief of staff for the VA Medical Center here. “Dr. Lambert is the first dentist to be named a chief of staff in the history of the Department of Veterans Affairs,” said Dr. Timothy Ward, VA dental chief, who announced the appointment.

“I have enjoyed an immensely rewarding career in the Department of Veterans Affairs,” Dr. Lambert said. “I have had an opportunity to teach, do research and expand the scope of my practice. I have been afforded the opportunity to assume progressively higher levels of leadership and have been supported with opportunities to complete several national leadership development programs in the VA culminating with my appointment as a chief of staff.

“Several years ago I made a conscious decision to push the limits of policy limiting qualification for serving as chief of staff to physicians. I consider this opportunity as the capstone to a wonderful career,” he told the ADA News. “Now in my 35th year of VA service, I can honestly say if I had to do it all over again, I’d do it all over again.”

Dr. Lambert is “well known to VA dentists for his reconstructive surgical skills and innovative collaboration with Wright Patterson Air Force Base in establishing a VA referral center for the surgical treatment of osteoradionecrosis of the jaws in conjunction with hyperbaric oxygen therapy,” said Dr. Ward, the assistant under secretary for health for dentistry at the VA headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Lambert has published more than 50 scientific articles and recently developed a creative distance learning module entitled “Oral Cancer Screening for Physicians and Extenders.” The module was developed in conjunction with a companion patient education brochure on risk factors, signs and symptoms of oral cancer, educating patients to request an examination by their health care provider. His lectures include a presentation on bisphosphonate related necrosis of the jaws and the adjunct use of hyperbaric oxygen in the management of osteoradionecrosis of the jaws.

He received the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States’ Carl A. Schlack Award in 2005. Dr. Lambert is a fellow of the American College of Dentists, International College of Dentists and Pierre Fauchard Academy.

“As good fortune would have it,” said Dr. Lambert, “my new assignment will allow me to return to the intermountain west. Having grown up in Albuquerque, N.M., at the foot of the Sandia Mountains, I developed a great love for the mountains. I will derive great pleasure from the increased opportunity to pursue my passions year-round.”

The Boise VAMC provides highly sophisticated primary and secondary care with some tertiary services including medical, surgical, dental, long-term and psychiatric care in affiliation with the University of Washington residency and fellowship programs. The medical center also operates a community based outpatient clinic in Twin Falls, Idaho.