Roy O. Greep, dean of the School of Dental Medicine, will leave his post July 1 to become the director of the Medical School's new center for the study of human reproduction.
He will be replaced at the Dental School by James H. Oaks, now associate dean, who will serve as acting dean.
Greep, a dean since 1952, will also become John Rock Professor of Population Studies at the School of Public Health, and will retain his appointment to the Med School's Department of Anatomy.
His new position takes Greep from the administrator's office and back to an area of research he has long been interested in. He has been involved in planning of the center for the past three years, heading the ad hoc committee in charge. It was known for a long time among top officials of the project that he would be its first director.
Six Stories
The six-story center should be completed by late 1969 or early 1970. It will include seminar and conference rooms plus laboratory and office quarters. But there will be no outpatient clinics or accommodations for inpatients. Its cost is now estimated at $4.7 million.
In an interview yesterday, Greep called the coming switch of positions a "big opportunity" to resume work he had let slide while an administrator.
"My work as a dental administrator and my work as an endocrinologist did not overlap most of the time," Greep said.
Oversee
Until the center is completed, he said, he would oversee construction and selection of staff and also continue his own research.
Endocrinologist Greep first became involved in dental research when he discovered a toothless rat during some experiments on pituitary glands. He breeded a strain of toothless rats, and moved on to other problems of tooth development.
In 1944, he joined the Harvard School of Dental Medicine as an assistant professor, became professor in 1949, and dean in 1952.
His new chair at the School of Public Health was created by Harvard in 1963. It honors John Rock, clinical professor of Gynecology emeritus, who has become famous as an authority on birth control
