Mirdza E. Neiders

She has contributed to research with nearly 100 publications. She taught undergraduate and graduate students at the University at Buffalo (UB) for 57 years. As a member of UB’s Oral Sciences Master’s Program, Neiders was the thesis supervisor for a number of M.S. degree students. She retired in August 2021.

Neiders taught undergraduate student courses in oral pathology, general pathology, and periodontology. To train postgraduate and graduate students, she taught in the Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology Certificate Training Program. She was a director of this program from 1980-1984. She also taught students in the Oral Sciences Master’s Program as a thesis supervisor and committee member.

From 1974-1975, Neiders took a sabbatical leave to be a guest scientist at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

In 1964, she took the examination of the American Board of Oral Pathology and became the first woman ever in the United States to be a certified oral and maxillofacial pathologist. At the University at Buffalo, she took training in Periodontics from 1971-1974 while working as a professor.

After studying at Ohio State University, the University of Michigan, and the University of Chicago, Neiders moved to New York State and joined the faculty at the University of Buffalo in 1962.

In 1962, Neiders began teaching as Assistant Professor of Oral Pathology at the University of Buffalo (UB). She obtained full professorship in 1970. She taught undergraduate and graduate students for 57 years.

In 1954, she was accepted into the dental school at the University of Michigan and received her DDS in 1958. In 1961, she received her master’s degree in general pathology from the University of Chicago.

Before attending college, Neiders worked at jobs where English was not required. She worked at an egg and poultry company, cleaned houses, and was a cashier in her high school cafeteria. Her family moved to Ohio after her father passed the Ohio State medical licensure examination in 1952.

From 1951-1952, Neiders attended Marshalltown Junior College. After that, she attended Ohio State University from 1952-1954 but did not receive a degree.

The family migrated to the United States on March 3, 1950. Neiders did not know English when she was placed in 11th grade at a secondary school in Marshalltown, Iowa. She credits one of her teachers, Miss Cooper, with teaching her English after school in just one and a half years as well as inspiring her to be a teacher.

Mirdza E. Neiders, DDS, MS (born August 21, 1933) is a Latvian American professor, researcher, and oral pathologist. She was the first woman to be board-certified in Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology in the United States. A SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor, she supported underrepresented students at the University at Buffalo such as women, international students, and other minorities.

Neiders was born in Riga, Latvia on August 21, 1933. Her father, Karlis, was a physician and her mother, Erika, was a dentist. Latvia was occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940, and then later by the Nazis in 1941. In 1944, her family left Latvia to flee from the second Soviet occupation. After World War II ended, Neiders, her parents, and her three siblings became displaced persons in the American Zone of Germany.