The 2008 ADEA Annual Session and Exhibition

Nearly 2,000 attendees experienced nearly 300 meetings, sessions, and forums at the 2008 American Dental Education Association (ADEA) Annual Session and Exhibition in Dallas, Texas. Notable among these were the most heavily attended plenary sessions in ADEA history, featuring Atul Gawande, MD, MPH; and Mr. James Carville. The ADEA Exhibit Hall featured nearly 100 exhibitors, and James Q. Swift, DDS, seemingly cloned himself to be everywhere at once in the last few days of his successful ADEA presidency. As the Association looked toward the future, ADEA Councils mulled resolutions proposed to the House of Delegates, serious conversations took place about the future of PGY-1; a plenary session was devoted to a possible link between professionalism and student stress; and Dr. Charles N. Bertolami outlined his vision for the Association for the upcoming year.

THE INAUGURAL WILLIAM J. GIES AWARDS

The Inaugural William J. Gies Awards for Vision, Innovation, and Achievement were presented at a black-tie dinner. The 2008 honorees were selected by a distinguished panel of judges consisting of the ADEAGies Foundation Board of Trustees. The winners were:

Michael C. Alfano, DMD, PhD
Outstanding Vision"Dental Educator

Marcia A. Boyd, DDS, MA
Outstanding Achievement"Dental Educator

Charles J. Goodacre, DDS, MSD
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 Surgeon General of the United States,1998-2002
Outstanding Achievement"Public/Private Partner

University of Iowa College of Dentistry
Outstanding Achievement"Academic Dental Institution

University of Maryland Baltimore College of Dental Surgery
Outstanding Vision"Academic Dental Institution

"It is a privilege to recognize these award winners, each of whom took on a challenge in global oral health and education and pursued it tirelessly." said Richard W. Valachovic, DMD, MPH, president of the ADEAGies Foundation and executive director of the ADEA (Figure 1). "All of them will inspire continued achievement in our field, just as William J. Gies has."

James E. Mulvihill, DMD, received the ADEA Distinguished Service Award. Given from time to time by the ADEA Board of Directors, this award recognizes significant contributions to education, research, and ADEA (Figure 2 and Figure 3).

"Dr. Mulvihill has been instrumental in shaping ADEA's institutional and corporate relationships, and doing so in a way that has benefited not only the dental education community but the oral health of the public," said Dr. Swift. The ADEA is the voice of dental education. Its members include all US and Canadian dental schools and many allied and postdoctoral dental education programs, corporations, faculty, and students. The mission of the ADEA is to lead individuals and institutions of the dental education community to address contemporary issues influencing education, research, and the delivery of oral healthcare for the health of the public. The ADEA's activities encompass a wide range of research, advocacy, faculty development, meetings, and communications like the Journal of Dental Education, as well as the dental school admissions services AADSAS and PASS.

Dr. Mulvihill is the director of Institutional Advancement and Corporate Relations at the ADEA. In this role, which he brings to a close at the end of this summer, he has been responsible for the doubling of the ADEA's corporate membership and for cultivating partnerships with ADEA corporate members that have provided funding for many programs. He is a longtime member of the ADEA, serving at various times as chair of the ADEA Council of Hospitals, a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Dental Education, and a member of the ADEA Committee on Association Role and Structure. He was a member of the ADEA House of Delegates from 1969 to 1974 and again in 1978. As a member of the Board of Trustees of the ADEA William J. Gies Foundation, he played an important role in helping to introduce the foundation to the ADEA.

"Dr. Mulvihill's work has made lasting contributions to the dental education community. He has helped the ADEA to launch programs that will continue to enhance the already high quality of dental education and formed lasting partnerships for the Association," said Dr. Valachovic.

Prior to joining the ADEA nearly 6 years ago, Dr. Mulvihill was appointed to a 3-year term as president and CEO of the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation International (JDFI) in 1996. During his tenure, JDFI became the fastest growing voluntary, nonprofit health agency in the United States and the world's largest nonprofit, nongovernmental funder of diabetes research. Annual program revenues doubled, as did expenditures to support research to find a cure for diabetes and its complications, and the efficiency level of the organization was recognized as one of the best of all nonprofit organizations.

In 1995 Dr. Mulvihill served as president and CEO of the Forsyth Dental Center (now The Forsyth Institute) in Boston after working for 3 years as senior vice president for health policy of The Travelers Insurance Company and chairman of The Travelers Health Company. He has served as assistant dean at Harvard School of Dental Medicine; vice president for education and research and dean of the Clinical Campus of the Long Island Jewish Medical Center, where he helped to develop the dental, medical, and allied health professions programs of the new Health Sciences Center of the State University of New York at Stony Brook; and vice president and provost for health affairs and the executive director of the University of Connecticut Health Center from 1980 to 1992.

Dr. Mulvihill is the author of two books and nearly 50 scientific papers and abstracts. He has been a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the American and the International Colleges of Dentists. He is a past chairman of the Association of Academic Health Centers and of the National Fund for Medical Education. He is a recipient of distinguished alumnus awards from both Holy Cross and the Harvard School of Dental Medicine for his leadership, service, and constant commitment to excellence.

A graduate of the College of the Holy Cross, Dr. Mulvihill received a Doctor of Dental Medicine degree and specialty education in periodontology and oral medicine from the Harvard School of Dental Medicine.

A MORE IN-DEPTH EXPERIENCE

More information from the Annual Session is available at the ADEA Live Learning Center (follow the link from www.adea.org). ADEA members can view and listen to up to 75 hours of sessions at no cost, with the option to earn continuing education credits at very reasonable member rates. A full report from the 2008 ADEA Annual Session was published in the May issue of the Bulletin of Dental Education Online.

Figure 1 William J. Gies II, grandson of William J. Gies, (left) and Dr. Valachovic at the Inaugural Gies Awards.
Figure 2 Dr. Swift presents the ADEA Distinguished Service Award to Dr. Mulvihill.
Figure 3 Dr. Mulvihill addresses the ADEA Annual Session.