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AAPHD National Office
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3085 Stevenson Drive #200
Springfield, IL 62703
Send contributions and announcements for Communique by the first Friday of each month to
Becky DeSpain Eden
Newsletter Editor
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Future Meetings
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American Dental Hygienists' Association
June 18 - 25, 2008
Albuquerque, NM
International Association for Dental Research
July 2 - 5, 2008
Toronto, ON
National Dental Association
July 25 - 30, 2008
Detroit, MI
American Dental Association
October 16 -19, 2008
San Antonio, TX American Public Health Association
October 25 - 29, 2008
San Diego, CA | |
President's Message With a record breaking registration of over 790 at the Miami National Oral Health Conference, we have started the year on a great note. We are thankful for our NOHC partners, especially the Association of State and Territorial Dental Directors, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Division of Oral Health and American Board of Dental Public Health, as it is through such synergistic relationships that we have been able to grow, both in size and depth as an Association, and in 'relevance' as we collectively take on the challenges at hand. Significant strides have been made nationally towards the recognition and acknowledgement of the real problems faced by our communities with regards to the 'perfect storm' brewing with the combined effects of poor (and decreasing) access to basic dental care, poor (and decreasing) government funding of dental public health and public welfare programs and a gradually shrinking dentist workforce. We in Dental Public Health are also uniquely challenged by the retirement of the (government, academic and research) leaders in our specialty, the loss of key government staff positions, particularly on the federal level and fewer new graduates waiting in the wings to assume critical roles as advocates, public administrators and community health leaders.
Both the annual conference and the AAPHD have evolved rapidly in response to the challenges before us. The voice of dental public health is strong and continues to grow and we are proud to report that AAPHD is very active on many fronts. Dental Public Health and AAPHD are playing a significant role in helping to design the future framework for oral health and dental practice in the U.S. As we strive to respond to such challenges we can use more help. AAPHD's greatest strength is its diverse, talented and resourceful membership. The work of the Association is a combination of non-profit business management, fund raising, strategic planning, policy assessment and development and advocacy - public advocacy and advocacy on behalf of dental public health. Please consider sharing your strengths with AAPHD by joining a committee. For more information on our committees, please visit AAPHD at www.aaphd.org or feel free to contact me at mark.greer@doh.hawaii.gov.
Submitted by Mark Greer, DMD, MPH | |
Association in Action
Journal Moves to Manuscript Central
AAPHD and Wiley-Blackwell are pleased to announce that the Journal of Public Health Dentistry now offers easy online submission of manuscripts through Manuscript Central™. This service allows authors to track the production progress of papers, receive e-mails at key stages and get free online access to their manuscript when it publishes online. Electronic submission of manuscripts will be the only way to submit papers as of June 1, 2008. To submit a manuscript, click here and follow the easy instructions.
HRSA Seeking Public Health Dentists for Grant Review
HRSA is urgently looking for Public Health Dentists to serve as grant reviewers for the following program:
Grants to States to Support Oral Health Workforce Activities
Review Dates: June 24-26, 2008
Location: In Washington, DC Metropolitan Area
Anyone interested in serving as a reviewer should contact Tracy Worley, Review Administrator, immediately at: tworley@hrsa.gov.
2008 NOHC Biggest and Best!
The 2008 National Oral Health Conference hit a new high for registration and attendance - 791 registrations with 765 actual attendees. Perhaps sunny Miami was the attraction or perhaps the educational seminars, but many believe it is this annual opportunity to network with colleagues that keeps those numbers increasing and over 50% of attendees returning.
NOHC Staff is still working on the Conference follow-up so in two weeks a special Communiqué dedicated to the NOHC will be electronically distributed. In that special edition will be Conference highlights, ASTDD 60th Anniversary information, AAPHD Annual Meeting Minutes and other key links.
As for now, the NOHC Staff need you to contact them immediately if you did not submit and download your CE information from the conference. The new electronic submission process allowed attendees to enter their information and download confirmation of attendance as needed. The CE website is now closed, so if you did not take advantage of this opportunity, call the NOHC office immediately at 217-529-6941. If we don't have your information in the system, we will not be able to retrieve it at a later date should you need it.
The NOHC is made possible through the partnership and sponsorship of the following organizations and companies:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Health Resources and Services Administration Maternal and Child Health Bureau
ASEPTICO
Medical Products Laboratories, Inc.
OMNI Preventive Care (Sponsor of the AAPHD Student Merit Awards)
Special thanks to Mark Greer, Emanuel Finn, Scott Tomar and Sheila Semler, the 2008 NOHC Co-chairs, for another great experience:
2008 Herschel S. Horowitz Scholarship Awarded
The AAPHD Foundation presented the fourth Herschel S. Horowitz Scholarship to Patrick Rowe, DDS. This scholarship was established in memory of Hersch Horowitz, a long-time leader in dental public health. The selection criteria include academic excellence; interest in pursuing a DPH residency and board certification; demonstrated leadership in dental school; evidence of financial need and the potential for making a positive impact on the dental public health community. Rowe attended Colgate College in New York and received the DDS from SUNY Buffalo in 2003. He entered the VA Medical Center in San Francisco for a GPR, taught part-time at the University of the Pacific in dental anatomy and practiced as a Staff dentist at Dientes Community Dental Care in Santa Cruz, CA. He enters the UCLA School of Public Health, Department of Health Services this fall. AAPHD is pleased to welcome him as an active member of the community. | |
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AAPHD Presents 2008 Merit Awards at NOHC
Awards Chair, Kathryn Atchison presented AAPHD's 2008 Merit Awards during a special luncheon at the NOHC. Awardees included:
Distinguished Service Award: Helen Gift, PhD
Helen was recognized for her contributions to the ADA in survey research, her role as the first health promotion scientist at the NIDR, later NIDCR, for her publications on sociology, dental access and utilization of dental care, and to her advancements  in qualitative and quantitative research in oral health quality of life. But for many AAPHD members, her most appreciated role was Editor of the Journal of Public Health Dentistry.
Special Merit Award: James Sutherland, DDS, MPH
The Special Merit Award recognizes an individual for meritorious service to dental public health. Jim graduated from UNC, completed a residency in Dental Public Health at Baylor College of Dentistry and has served as faculty at LSU and currently for the University of Colorado. But it is his long list of service to the public and his service to AAPHD that  distinguishes Jim. He is a Regional Dental Consultant to HRSA. In that role he works with the states on their state-wide public health activities. He has served the HRSA Oral Health Central Office through a workshop to develop activities and strategies for oral health activities and served as Chair for Oral Health Awareness for the Colorado Oral Health Coalition. Jim has also served as a Clinical Dentist aboard the USNS Comfort; served as Planning Chief during Hurricane Katrina to develop a recovery plan; and served as Technical Assistant and Implementation Plan MCHP for Oral Health Summits in five states. In his spare time, Jim served on the Executive Council for AAPHD, where he chaired the Membership Committee, developed and implemented strategies for recruitment and developed a membership survey to help the organization move toward its Strategic Planning Goal of reaching a membership base of 1000.
Public Service Award: Rasmuson Foundation
Over the past 24 years, the Public Service Award has been presented 19 times, to 21 different individuals. This year AAPHD recognized a new model for improving the public's health through the Rasmuson Foundation. What greatly impressed the  Awards Committee was the Rasmuson Foundation's process of working with communities to determine needs and their persistence in working with communities to act as a change agent. Despite challenges, the Rasmuson Foundation stands strongly as supportive of the communities working through problems, finding solutions, and finding partners from other foundations to partner in the solutions. For accepting the challenge and the responsibility to help the people of Alaska, AAPHD recognized the Rasmuson Foundation with the AAPHD Public Service Award. Accepting the award on behalf of the Foundation was Joel Neimeyer.
AAPHD President's Award: Eugenio Beltran, DMD, MS, DrPH Caswell Evans presented the 2008 President's Award to Eugenio because he is always the first to volunteer to help write AAPHD opinions, serve on committees or provide background information when preparing testimony. In addition, Eugenio has served for many years as one of the NOHC photographers. On behalf of the AAPHD membership, Evans made a special point to say, "Thank you, Eugenio!" |
Sounding Off!
Finding Common Ground: Positive Developments between AAPHD and ADA
By Scott L. Tomar, DMD, DrPH
As is well known by most people who have been in a long-term relationship, partners frequently have similar long-term expectations but do not always agree on the day-to-day details they deal with along the way. The relationship between AAPHD and the American Dental Association (ADA) has been no different. Both organizations envision a state of optimal oral health for the American people, even if we have sometimes disagreed on how to achieve that vision.
To a large extent, dental public health and organized dentistry are inseparably intertwined. The ADA has been a major supporter and advocate for some core dental public health activities and infrastructure, such as community water fluoridation, federal dental programs such as the Indian Health Service and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Division of Oral Health, and community-based tobacco control. Dental Public Health is one of the nine dental specialties formally recognized by the ADA, which is essential for the existence and certification function of our specialty board, the American Board of Dental Public Health. Most dental public health programs that provide direct patient services could not function without dentists, most of whom are members of the ADA. Indeed, many AAPHD members are also members of the ADA.
However, most members of AAPHD are aware that the two organizations have disagreed, sometimes vehemently, on a number of issues. Dental hygienists' professional autonomy, universal health care insurance, and the role of dental health therapists in meeting the needs of the dentally underserved are examples of contentious issues on which AAPHD and ADA may never agree.
There are two primary approaches that partners in a relationship may take when they sharply disagree on issues: they can choose to divorce and go their own separate ways, or they can find common ground but agree to disagree on some things. I would argue that the former approach is neither desirable nor practical. Public health practice requires learning to build coalitions and work with others whose agendas may partially overlap with ours, even if we have different rankings of our priorities. Similarly, the major voice for dentistry in the United States must include the input and perspective of the dental public health community if it is to maintain the credibility of its Vision Statement: "The American Dental Association: The oral health authority committed to the public and the profession."
AAPHD and ADA have chosen to follow the second course of action, and explore how the two organizations can better work together. In this regard, there are many positive developments. We have had several recent meetings between the officers of AAPHD and ADA, and will continue this dialogue to explore areas for effective collaboration. The ADA has added two excellent and well-respected public health dentists to its staff. Lew Lampiris - AAPHD member, Past-President of the Association of State and Territorial Dental Directors, and former Illinois State Dental Director - is now the Director of the ADA Council on Access, Prevention, and Interprofessional Relations (CAPIR). CAPIR is the council that deals most directly with topics of central importance to the dental public health community. Steve Geiermann was recently hired by the ADA to serve as CAPIR's Senior Manager for Access, Community Oral Health Infrastructure, and Capacity. Geiermann brings with him years of experience as a Regional Oral Health Consultant for the U.S. Public Health Service and a Dental Officer in the Commissioned Corps. He continues to serve AAPHD in a number of roles, including Archives Editor for JPHD and a co-leader of the Task Force on Dental Public Health Workforce. Lew and Steve serve important roles as voices for dental public health within the ADA and as liaisons between organized dentistry and the public health community. Don Marianos, AAPHD member and former Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Division of Oral Health, gave an invited and very well received presentation before the ADA Task Force on The Future of Health Care/ Universal Coverage, representing a dental public health perspective on health care reform. We have had several ADA leaders speak at the recent NOHC in Miami, including President Mark Feldman, Past-President Robert Brandjord, and Bill Prentice, Executive Director for Government Affairs and Director of the ADA Washington Office. We are pleased to report that AAPHD has been invited to present a symposium at ADA's Annual Session in San Antonio in October 2008.
Yes, there may always be areas of disagreement between the worlds of private practice and public health, but our challenge is to rise above the bickering, identify areas of commonality, and put our energies into constructive endeavors. Such as approach may benefit AAPHD and the ADA, but most importantly it may benefit the public that we all serve.
Scott Tomar is Professor and Chair of the Department of Community Dentistry and Behavioral Science at the University of Florida College of Dentistry and President-elect of AAPHD. |
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Spotlight on Members
Robert Bagramian Appointed Dean
Dr. Haroutune Armenian, President of the American University of Armenian Corporation, and the Board of Trustees announce the appointment of Dr. Robert Bagramian as Dean of the College of Health Sciences.
Bagramian is currently a Professor in the Schools of Dentistry and Public Health at the University of Michigan, where he also served as a Professor and Chair in the Department of Community Dentistry for seventeen years. He has been a Visiting Professor at the University of Berne, Switzerland, and the National University of Singapore. He holds a MPH from the University of North Carolina School of Public Health, a PhD degree in Public Health from the University of Michigan School of Public Health and a DDS from Temple University School of Dentistry.
The American University of Armenia (AUA) is a private, nonsectarian, independent graduate university founded in 1991 in Yerevan, Armenia. The College of Health Sciences is a member of the Association of Schools of Public Health of the European Region. The university currently offers degrees in business administration, industrial engineering and systems management, computer and information science, political science, public health, law, comparative legal studies, and teaching English as a foreign language.
AUA was established through the support of the Armenian General Benevolent Union and the University of California. The Ministry of Education and Science of the government of Armenia provided financial and logistical support for the university. In July 1990, the President and the Regents of the University of California voted unanimously in favor of an affiliation with the university. Through this affiliation, the University of California provides technical support and collaboration.
Eugenio Beltran Recognized for Commitment to Global Health
Health Volunteers Overseas (HVO) has announced that Eugenio Beltran, DMD, MPH, DrPH, MS, is a recipient of the third annual Golden Apple Award. As part of its World Health Day observances, HVO created this award to recognize the extraordinary educational contributions of volunteers to sites abroad. Each volunteer honored with this award has demonstrated a strong commitment to HVO's educational mission by working on curriculum development, teacher training, didactic or clinical training, or the enhancement of educational resources.
In his 13 years as a member of Health Volunteers Overseas, Beltran has completed 15 overseas volunteer assignments, contributing over 1000 hours of volunteer service. In addition to his international assignments, he has been instrumental in the development and oversight of HVO's dental training programs worldwide. Beltran has been particularly effective in introducing the public health model with its emphasis on prevention to clinicians and policy makers in Cambodia and Vietnam among other places. His passion and commitment to teaching are evident in the enthusiasm of the students who consistently rate his courses as excellent.
 Beltran is currently on staff at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Dental Public Health. He has been an active member of HVO since 1995 and currently serves on the HVO Dentistry Steering Committee and as Program Director for the dental training program in Nicaragua.
A private, non-profit membership organization, HVO was founded in 1986 to improve global health through education. In more than 25 resource-poor nations, volunteers train, mentor and provide critical professional support to health care providers who care for the neediest populations in the most difficult of circumstances. To learn more about HVO, visit www.hvousa.org.
Ronald J. Hunt Becomes ADEA President-Elect
Ronald J. Hunt, DDS, MS, was installed as American Dental Education Association President-elect at the 2008 ADEA Annual Session in April. Hunt is a Diplomate of the American Board of Dental Public Health. He received both a DDS degree and an MS degree in Community Dentistry and Dental Public Health from the University of Iowa. Hunt has been Dean of VCU School of Dentistry for nine years and previously served as Dean for Academic Affairs at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Dentistry. He has published more than 40 peer-reviewed articles about epidemiological surveys, clinical research, health services research and educational research. Hunt is active in the American Association for Dental Research and was section officer in geriatric oral research.
Karen Yoder Receives Award
Karen Yoder, Associate Professor of Preventive and Community Dentistry and Director of the Division of Community Dentistry in the School of Dentistry at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, who was recently honored with Indiana University's Thomas Ehrlich Award for Excellence in Service Learning. The award is presented annually to an IU professor who has shown particular merit in service learning. The award is named after Thomas Ehrlich, who served as IU's president from 1987 to 1994. Yoder is regarded as a national expert in the area of service learning in dental education. In 2006 she published a framework for service learning in the Journal of Dental Education that is informing practice not only in dental education but in higher education as a whole. When Yoder became director of the Division of Community Dentistry in 2001, she developed a strategic plan to integrate service learning into the School of Dentistry curriculum, despite limited resources. To date nearly 100 students have participated in the programs, providing dental care and supplies to underserved populations in these countries. In 2005 working with the Indiana Dental Association, she founded the annual Oral Health Policy Forum, a one-day public policy session for fourth-year dental students. In 2005 she was named an IUPUI Boyer Scholar, receiving a stipend to conduct research on service learning and civic engagement. Most recently she was named a Fellow of the IU School of Nursing's Institute for Action Research in Health. She holds the MSD degree in Dental Public Health and a PhD in Dental Science with a minor in Health Policy and Health of the Community from IUSD.
ADEAGies Foundation Presents New Awards
The ADEAGies Foundation is pleased to announce that the inaugural William J. Gies Awards for Vision, Innovation, and Achievement were presented in conjunction with the ADEA Annual Session in March 29. Named after a pioneer in dental education, the Awards recognize contributions to and support of global oral health and education initiatives. The winners in alphabetical order are:
Michael C. Alfano, DMD, PhD, New York University, Outstanding Vision-Dental Educator
University of Maryland Baltimore College of Dental Surgery, Outstanding Vision-Academic Dental Institution
Marcia A. Boyd, DDS, MA, Outstanding Achievement-Dental Educator
Charles J. Goodacre, DDS, MSD, Loma Linda School of Dentistry, Outstanding Innovation-Dental Educator
Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Outstanding Vision-Academic Dental Institution
Louisiana State University School of Dentistry, Outstanding Innovation-Academic Dental Institution
National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, Outstanding Vision-Public/Private Partner
David Satcher, MD, PhD, 16th U.S. Surgeon General, National Center for Primary Care, Outstanding Achievement-Public/Private Partner
University of Iowa College of Dentistry, Outstanding Achievement-Academic Dental Institution | |
