Dr. Cottrell graduated from Bucknell University in 1983, majoring in Chemistry. He received his DMD degree in 1987 from The University of Pennsylvania and completed residencies at Yale University Hospital and Tufts University in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery from 1988 to 1992. He also completed a Fellowship at Baylor University Medical Center in 1993.

Dr. Cottrell joined the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at Boston University in 1993 as an Assistant Professor. He became the Director of the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Residency Program from 1997-2007 as well as Chairman of the Department and Associate Dean for Hospital Affairs from 2002-2010. Dr. Cottrell was also Chief of the Department of Dentistry and Oral Surgery at Boston Medical Center. He is an active Staff Surgeon at Boston Medical Center and a visiting staff surgeon at Franciscans Children’s Hospital. He continues to hold an appointment as Adjunct Associate Clinical Professor at Boston University.

Dr Cottrell is a Diplomate of the American Board of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, and a Fellow of the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons. He is a member of the Northeastern and Massachusetts Societies of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Foundation, the American Dental Association, Massachusetts Dental Society, Metropolitan District Dental Society, Boston City Hospital/Boston Medical Center Alumni Association and The Humane Society of the united States.

Dr. Cottrell has authored more then 200 published articles and book chapters and is a reviewer for the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, and Oral Surgery, Oral Pathology, Oral Medicine. He has been an invited lecturer both nationally and internationally, and present regularly on his research interests including bone grafting for implant site development and dental implants.

Dr. Cottrell has served as member and chair of countless professional organizations and committees. He is immediate past president of the Massachusetts Society of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, Chair of the subcommittee on Surgical Correction of the Maxillofacial Skeletal deformities and the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Special Committee on Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Parameters of Care. He is the Senior Delegate from Massachusetts to the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons.