Dennis Mitchell (scholar)

Dennis A. Mitchell is a Canadian-American university leader and scholar of dental medicine. He currently serves as executive vice president for university life, senior vice provost for faculty advancement, and professor of dental medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center at Columbia University.

Early life and education
On the advice of an uncle, Mitchell left Canada to study in the US, earning his degree in Neurobiology and Behavior from Cornell University. He subsequently attended Howard University’s College of Dentistry, earning a Doctor of Dental Surgery degree, and earned a MPH in Executive Health Services Management from Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.

Career and research
After receiving a full-time appointment at Columbia University, he co-created and directed the Community DentCare Network, which seeks to address the lack of oral healthcare services in northern Manhattan.

Since 2004, Mitchell has served as the Dean for Diversity and Inclusion for the College of Dental Medicine at Columbia. He then became Columbia's Vice Provost for Faculty Advancement. Mitchell's office is the steward of $185M in publicly committed fund. In August 2021, Mitchell was appointed as the executive vice president for university life.

He is the winner of the 2022 American Dental Education Association Distinguished Service Award.