WASHINGTON, Aug. 7, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Nominations will be accepted through November 5, 2012, for the 2013 William J. Gies Awards for Vision, Innovation, and Achievement (the Gies Awards). Presented by the ADEAGies Foundation, the Gies Awards recognize exceptional contributions to and support of oral health and dental education around the world. They will be presented at a highly anticipated celebration on March 18 in conjunction with the 2013 ADEA Annual Session & Exhibition, to be held March 16-19 in Seattle, Washington.
Since 2008, the Gies Awards, named after dental education pioneer William J. Gies, Ph.D., have honored individuals and organizations that exemplify dedication to the highest standards of vision, innovation, and achievement in global oral health and dental education, research, and leadership.
"The ADEAGies Foundation looks forward to honoring those outstanding individuals who fulfill Dr. Gies's legacy of vision, innovation, and achievement," says Richard W. Valachovic, D.M.D., M.P.H., President of the ADEAGies Foundation and Executive Director of the American Dental Education Association (ADEA). "We are proud that the established awards program, now in its sixth year, is able to recognize the personal dedication and commitment of these individuals, and their contributions to advance global oral health."
Honorees will be selected by a distinguished panel of judges consisting of the ADEAGies Board of Trustees. The Gies Awards offer significant visibility both within and outside the dental education community, drawing much-needed attention to the essential role of dental education and educators in enhancing global oral health.
The 2012 ADEAGies Awards honorees were (in alphabetical order): Dalhousie University Faculty of Dentistry; Professor Johann de Vries, University of Adelaide School of Dentistry; Dr. Gregg H. Gilbert, University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Dentistry; Dr. William K. Lobb, Marquette University School of Dentistry; Massachusetts Dental Society; Naples Children & Education Foundation; University of Illinois at Chicago College of Dentistry; Dr. Anthony R. Volpe, Colgate-Palmolive Co.; and Dr. Esther M. Wilkins, Tufts University School of Dental Medicine.
The nominations deadline is November 5, 2012. To obtain a copy of the Gies Awards Call for Nominations or for more information, please visit www.adeagiesfoundation.org or call ADEA at 202-289-7201.
About The William J. Gies Foundation: The William J. Gies (pronounced guys) Foundation was established in 1950 by colleagues and admirers of Dr. Gies with seed funds raised by the American College of Dentists. It was a private foundation and the first U.S. foundation to support dental education and scholarship. In 2002, it joined with the American Dental Education Association (ADEA) to form ADEAGies Foundation, a public foundation.
About William J. Gies and the Gies Report: William Gies was a Columbia University biochemistry professor and founder of the College of Dental Medicine at Columbia University where he was interested in dental education, science, and clinical applications. In 1926, as part of a series of studies on U.S. professional education funded by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Dr. Gies published a landmark report that established the importance of dentistry as a healing science and an essential component of higher education in the health professions. The Gies Report, Dental Education in the United States and Canada, took five years to research and write. It consists of 250 pages of text and more than 400 pages of appendices, including lengthy descriptions and evaluations of the existing dental schools, each of which Dr. Gies visited. Since the Gies Report, there have been many other reports on dental education in the context of health professions education. However, Dental Education in the United States and Canada remains to this day the most relevant survey of dental education and critical issues within the field.
About ADEA: The American Dental Education Association (ADEA) is the voice of dental education. Its members include all U.S. and Canadian dental schools and many allied and advanced dental education programs, corporations, faculty, and students. The mission of ADEA is to lead individuals and institutions of the dental education community to address contemporary issues influencing education, research, and the delivery of oral health care for the health of the public. ADEA's activities encompass a wide range of research, advocacy, faculty development, meetings, and communications like the esteemed Journal of Dental Education, as well as the dental school admissions services AADSAS, PASS, and CAAPID.
