J Dent Educ. 69(7): 721-724 2005
© 2005 American Dental Education Association
President’s Remarks
Frank A. Catalanotto, D.M.D.
Good afternoon. Welcome to the 82nd Annual Session of the American Dental Education Association in the wonderful city of Baltimore, Maryland.
I said this to you last year in San Antonio, but it bears repeating. Thank you for the honor and privilege of allowing me to serve as President of the American Dental Education Association this past year. I will present you today with a brief summary of some of our mutual accomplishments over the year. Some of these successes relate directly to my presidential theme and the theme of this meeting, "Access and Diversity: Educating for Change," but many relate to the general mission, core values, and strategic initiatives of ADEA.
"The mission of the American Dental Education Association 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 improvement of the health of the public." In particular, I want to emphasize this last phrase—"for the improvement of the health of the public"—and ask you to reflect on it while I review our accomplishments.
I also want you to contemplate our core values as I make my remarks. They are:
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Promoting and Improving Excellence in All Aspects of Dental Education.
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I will not have time to discuss the ADEA Leadership Institute, now in its sixth year, and plans for the third Allied Dental Faculty Leadership Program in 2006 in my comments, but think of the great impact they have had on promoting excellence in our faculty and hopefully in our educational programs. Also, think about the Faculty Code of Conduct being presented to the House of Delegates for approval.
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Building Partnerships in Support of and Advocating for the Needs of Dental Education.
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Think about the word "partnership" as I announce the merger of the ADEA Legislative Affairs Committee and the AADR National Affairs Committee and our new combined efforts in advocacy for dental education and research and the oral health of the public. In addition, consider the impressive list of communities of interest that attended the Allied Education meeting this January in Washington, a historic first.
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Serving the Individual Needs of Members and Institutions.
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Think about this as I discuss the outcomes of the Membership Growth Task Force I appointed last year and what we proposed on Sunday to increase membership. In particular, think of the impact of providing free membership to all faculty, students, and administrators in all academic dental institutions.
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Encouraging Communication and Sharing of Information Among the Association’s Members.
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Think about this as you contemplate 18,600 web-based hits per week in the first three months of our new online version of the Journal of Dental Education.
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Expanding the Diversity of Dental Education.
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Think about this important core value as I announce the new ADEA/Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Summer Medical and Dental Education Program funded by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
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Promoting Oral Health.
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Think about this as we discuss our amazing progress in working with the American Dental Association and others in the examining community on national licensure that will improve dental and allied dental mobility and hopefully improve access to care.
Finally, I want to mention the four current strategic initiatives of our organization for the time period 2004–07; they build upon ADEA’s mission, core values, and prior strategic directions and provide a broad overview of the key issues the Association will address over the next few years. These strategic directions are:
- recruitment, development, retention, and renewal of dental and allied dental faculty;
- financing dental and allied dental education;
- meeting the oral health care needs of a diverse population; and
- curriculum development and design to meet the changing needs of the field and the profession of dental education.
You will see each of these strategic initiatives in play as I review some of our specific accomplishments and successes in more detail.
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Academy of Dental Educators.
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A group of members, representing all ADEA Councils, has been hard at work since March of last year, under the able leadership of Vice President for Faculties John Killip. John and this task force presented a very grounded and realistic interim report to the Board of Directors at our January meeting; for example, this report had survey data from over 1,000 ADEA and non-ADEA members. The Board carefully and thoughtfully reviewed this report and recommended a series of additional actions by the task force members to further flesh out what an Academy of Dental Educators might look like. We anticipate that next report at our June Board meeting.
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Allied Dental Educators Summit.
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The ADEA Focus Group on Allied Dental Education met in January. The purpose of the focus group was to inform the thinking and deliberations of the Council of Allied Dental Program Directors and the ADEA Board of Directors as these groups recommend the Association’s next steps in addressing priority issues in allied dental education. This focus group included participants from communities of interest across dental and allied dental education, as well as those from organized dentistry, the organized allied dental professions, the examining community, and the insurance industry. As a result of this focus group, ADEA is organizing a summit to plan the Association’s role in preparing an allied dental work force that meets the nation’s future requirements.
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Diversity Initiatives.
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Under the able leadership of Dr. Jeanne Sinkford and her staff, the Center for Equity and Diversity had more accomplishments than I have time to recognize. But since diversity was one of my presidential initiatives, I will mention just a few successes.
First, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and The California Endowment have provided more than $4 million in grants, administered by ADEA and awarded to U.S. dental schools that help in their diversity initiatives.
Second, through our partnership with Procter & Gamble, ADEA has sponsored seven National Minority Recruitment and Retention Conferences over a ten-year period and six Regional Predental Advisors Workshop. The conference this past year, in Chapel Hill, represented ADEA’s sustained efforts to implement diversity policies, strengthen the capacity of our member institutions, and build leadership collaborations through networking and information exchange.
ADEA is a major player in the Health Professionals for Diversity (HPD) Coalition. HPD is a coalition of more than fifty major health professional organizations that are addressing access and diversity issues across the health professions. The work of this coalition is especially important in light of the 2003 decision of the Supreme Court regarding the admissions practices at the University of Michigan. The HPD will employ strategies to achieve diversity across the health professions in a trajectory that spans the next twenty-five years.
In closing this section on diversity initiatives, I am also really pleased to announce that ADEA and AAMC have been awarded a $16 million grant by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that will create a Summer Medical and Dental Education Program for dental and medical schools, allowing predental and premedical students from disadvantaged backgrounds the opportunity to enhance their skills in preparation for applying to dental or medical schools. This is a wonderful opportunity for our schools, but also shows our significant increase in collaboration with other associations and foundations.
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Communications and Membership.
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Sue Sandmeyer and the staff in Communications and Membership work hard on a variety of issues. Sue in particular provided great staff support to the Membership Task Force I appointed last year. The details of this recommendation to improve membership and to make ADEA a true representative of all of dental and allied dental education were discussed on Sunday’s meeting and presented as a motion for passage by the House of Delegates in a few minutes. This represents one of my key goals when I assumed the presidency: increasing membership.
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Advocacy.
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My presidential year overlapped with the national presidential election. Caught up in the fervor of the presidential campaign, Congress avoided tackling substantive issues, and only in a lame-duck session last December did it belatedly approve Fiscal Year 2004 funding for federal programs and agencies of interest to dental education and research. However, ADEA members and our great staff in the Center for Public Policy and Advocacy, led by Jack Bresch, remained focused on its legislative priorities, advocating funding for health professions education and training programs, biomedical and dental research programs, the Ryan White Dental Reimbursement program, issues still surrounding dental GME and the GME audit of dental residency training programs in non-hospital settings, and a variety of legislative proposals with regard to oral health and dental services for vulnerable children and low-income families.
The ADEA leadership, through the House of Delegates, values advocacy as a top priority of the Association. Last year you aptly embraced the concept that the House of Delegates would become actively involved in advocating ADEA’s legislative priorities. To that end we are offering you an opportunity to arm yourself with the necessary legislative skills and knowledge needed to be successful on Capitol Hill. This year any member of the House of Delegates may register to participate in the April 18–20 Advocacy Day on Capitol Hill. Dental students are encouraged to participate in National Dental Student Lobby Day scheduled for April 5–6.
One of the most exciting accomplishments this past year concerns our Legislative Affairs Committee, ably chaired by Dr. Sharon Turner. To enrich our strategic alliance with the American Association of Dental Research, we are embarking on an initiative that will strengthen our respective advocacy efforts by merging the ADEA Legislative Advisory Committee and the AADR National Affairs Committee to form the new ADEA/AADR National Oral Health Advocacy Committee. With the hard work and commitment of members of both committees, and my good friend Dr. Dom DePaola’s leadership as AADR President, and as a former member of both committees, I know that by combining our expertise and resources, the new advisory committee will provide critical advice and counsel to the ADEA and AADR Boards of Directors with regard to advocacy initiatives and both the federal and state levels.
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National Clinical Licensure.
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ADEA has worked tirelessly to promote major reform in the clinical licensure process. ADEA’s efforts were galvanized last April when the Association’s representatives to the ADA Council on Dental Education and Licensure supported a motion to develop a single clinical examination for licensure that would have national acceptance. Since that time, ADEA has sought to collaborate not only with the ADA but also with the American Association of Dental Examiners (AADE) and others. Our requests to work together on the development, implantation, and governance of a national clinical licensure examination have been rejected thus far by AADE. However, others in the examining community such as the ADA and the Western Regional Examining Board (WREB) have shown much interest in working together for the public good. ADEA and the ADA have worked closely over the past few months in an effort to foster cooperation across the dental professions on this important issue.
I would remind our colleagues in the examining community and reiterate to you as ADEA members: the protection and health of the public are the responsibility of the entire dental profession, including dental education. ADEA will continue to advocate and work toward a national clinical examination that is valid and reliable and that involves all communities of interest in its development and oversight, and I would urge the national examining community to work with us on this venture.
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Curriculum Reform.
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I think the developments in this area are remarkable. As a means to build upon and move forward an ADEA Council of Sections proposal, in October 2004, ADEA sponsored a Forum on the Predoctoral Curriculum that involved all the major stakeholder groups required for a systemic change in curriculum. A series of recommendations resulted from that forum. Among the key initiatives led by ADEA will be the development of a new document, "Competencies for the New General Dentist." This document will provide a common reference to develop new curricula, to inform the National Board examinations, and to serve as ADEA’s reference to recommend updates and revisions of CODA standards. A report is forthcoming that delineates how ADEA will partner with dental schools and agencies at the ADA to ensure that this new document is a living document, one that influences and guides curricular innovation. I want to particularly acknowledge the leadership of Vice President for Sections Jerry Glickman and the other members of the Council of Sections who saw their initial ideas about curriculum mushroom into this outstanding outcome!
In closing this section, I want to especially thank the staff of the Center for Educational Policy and Research. Karl Haden in particular has been helpful to both ADEA and me in areas of curriculum, ethics, and national licensure.
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Ethics of Access to Care.
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As I thought about what I could help ADEA accomplish in the area of access to oral health care, I reviewed the report of the ADEA Presidential Commission on Access to Care that I was fortunate enough to chair. The issue is a very complex one and there is only so much that ADEA and dental and allied dental education can do to make a significant impact on this national crisis. That was how I decided to place my efforts on the issue of the ethics of access to care. My thinking was that if we could raise the level of national dialogue about the ethics of access to oral health care, maybe we could effect changes in how the dental and allied dental professions approach the problem. It was very clear to me that the recent leadership in the American Dental Association understands that the access to care issue is a major national crisis. But I was also concerned that the ADA Code of Ethics, while mentioning the ethical concept of justice, really paid only minor attention to related issues of access to care including the moral responsibilities of health care professionals, the concept of the good society and the responsibilities of members of that society, and the concept of social justice. I therefore initiated a dialogue with the American Dental Association and the American College of Dentists about starting a national discussion about the Code of Ethics and the issue of the ethics of access to care.
I am really pleased to report the progress made so far. This summer we will hold a symposium to discuss the general topic of the moral responsibilities of health care professionals. I am truly grateful for all those who helped make this dream a reality, and I hope the resultant dialogue will influence our wonderful profession’s ethical and practical approaches to oral health access issues.
In closing, I want to return to the beginning of my presentation. First, thank you for the honor and privilege of electing me as President of ADEA. To be honest with you, and as many of you know, the opportunity for me to serve in this role came at a time in my professional career that I needed something like this and for that I am truly grateful. In addition, thank you all for your hard work in dental education and, in particular, in serving ADEA in the many roles you all have; we could not have accomplished what we did this past year without your tremendous hard work.
I must also express my sincerest thanks to the incredible staff of our organization, particularly some not seen in the previous slides. This especially includes the folks behind the scenes such as the Application Services, working on AADSAS and PASS, under the able leadership of Anne Wells. Also, thanks to the reception and financial, operations, and administrative support folks back in the office who rarely get to our annual meetings but who carry on the day-to-day business of ADEA, especially to Abigail Gorman. I have interacted with many over the past year and they are terrific people. I would also like to acknowledge David Brunson and the staff in Professional Development. In just the short time they have been working for ADEA, they have raised the level of member services to new heights. I also want to acknowledge the outstanding leadership of our executive director, Richard Valachovic. He gives more than 100 percent to our organization, but I especially want to thank him for his personal commitment to me as president and the advice, patience, and good humor he showed when asked to comment on many of my written words and PowerPoint slides, especially first drafts.
Finally, there is a group of folks many of you do not know whom I must thank for their help and support and patience throughout my entire career but especially for these past few years while I served on the ADEA Board as Vice President for Deans and then President-Elect and now President. My family has stood by me and tolerated my work load and my travel and my preoccupation with business-related matters. For the record, I was on the road sixty-three weekdays this past year on ADEA and other business without counting weekends. Sean, Rebecca, and Sarah, and, of course, my dear wife, Jane: thank you so much for allowing me to do what I do. I could not have done what I have without you all!
To the members of ADEA, to the House of Delegates, and to our Board of Directors, and especially to Eric Hovland, our incoming President, and to Ken Kalkwarf, our incoming President-Elect, my best wishes to you for a successful year. Keep up the hard work and the commitment to excellence that makes ADEA what it is today!
Thank you all.
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Footnotes
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This address by the President of the American Dental Education Association was presented to the membership on March 9, 2005, in Baltimore, Maryland. Dr. Catalanotto is Professor of Pediatric Dentistry and former Dean at the University of Florida College of Dentistry.
This article has been cited by other articles:
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F. A. Catalanotto
A Welcome to the Workshop on "Professional Promises: Hopes and Gaps in Access to Oral Health Care"
J Dent Educ.,
November 1, 2006;
70(11):
1120 - 1124.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
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