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Introduction |
Dental and allied dental education leaders from around the world shared insights and information at the American Dental Education Association’s Third International Women’s Leadership Conference in Montreal, Canada, August 28–30, 2005. The conference theme, "Global Health Through Women’s Leadership," had emerged from the two previous conferences, held in France in 1998 and Sweden in 2003. Proceedings from the prior two conferences were published in the Journal of Dental Education in March 1999 and as a supplement to the Journal of Dental Education in July 2004.
At the 2005 conference, speakers and attendees from twenty-one countries and five continents addressed issues ranging from the workforce of the future to the politically savvy leader and participated in lectures, small-group discussions, and skill-building workshops. Additionally, peer-reviewed poster and oral presentations were delivered on two days of the conference.
The nine themes selected for the conference emerged from the successes of the first two conferences, which addressed global issues affecting women’s health and general health through education, research, and service (practice). Those themes, which were also addressed by the oral and poster presentations, were as follows: 1) global issues in dental and oral health related to systemic health; 2) advancement of women in academic and research careers and in professional societies; 3) mentoring, role modeling, and networking; 4) clinical relevance of gender and oral health (including the women’s HIV study); 5) gender generation gap: women as change agents for organizational change; 6) work-related issues: time management and leadership in the office; 7) entry to dentistry through different career pathways; 8) alternative medicine and women’s health and keeping women fit; and 9) reentry: engineering career development.
As in the two previous conferences, speakers focused on current trends in women’s leadership in dentistry and medicine within their countries, as well as oral health initiatives that are making differences among residents, particularly children. Many presentations were global and overarching in scope, while others were personal and specific. Several recurring issues that emerged from the prior conferences were continued in the 2005 conference:
Throughout all presentations, speakers and panelists took a worldwide perspective on oral health treatment and delivery. Dr. Lois Cohen, associate director for international health of the U.S. National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), introduced a video focusing on the international research sponsored by NIDCR. The video emphasized the importance of collaborative research strategies to improve oral/systemic health. Dr. Vivian Pinn, the keynote speaker and director of the U.S. Office of Research on Women’s Health, identified benchmarks of women’s health research and leadership. She discussed vastly improved statistics on the number of U.S. women in science and research but cautioned that women still need to overcome perceived and real inequities of advancement opportunities. In 1960, women made up 8 percent of all U.S. scientists, she noted, but the percentage had risen to 37 percent by 2003. In 2000, women were the majority of both undergraduate and graduate students in life sciences and entered postdoctoral positions at a similar rate to that of their male colleagues. She emphasized, however, that we still need to improve how women are recruited into the sciences and we must provide support and opportunities for the retention and advancement of women in biomedical research careers.
Dr. Emöke Szathmáry, president and vice chancellor of the University of Manitoba, talked about the personal and professional challenges of ascending to a leadership position in a university during a two- decade period. She raised a family while beginning her career in university teaching, including returning to her post four days after delivering her son. Dr. Szathmáry emphasized that universities play an important role in everyone’s lives, since they preserve, advance, and disseminate knowledge, thereby changing people and societies. She described a massive shift in how universities have responded to information and business during the last ten years and suggested that values must drive leadership and that one cannot be a leader if one does not have followers.
Professor Hari Parkash, chief of the Centre for Dental Education and Research at the India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi, discussed prevention and disease treatment in his country. With a population of more than 1 billion people and a dentist-to-population ratio of 1:10,000, delivering preventive care in India is difficult, he explained. Three-fourths of all dentists are clustered in urban areas that house only one-fourth of the country’s population, he said, while the balance of India’s people live in rural areas where the literacy rate is 41 percent. He described the dental workforce as a system of comprehensive care in terms of oral health promotion, prevention, and cure, but stated that vast differences exist between countries regarding the members who comprise the dental team and how primary prevention is prioritized.
Dr. Lisa Tedesco, former vice president of the University of Michigan, appeared on a panel of visionaries that included Dr. Christopher Fox, executive director of the American Association for Dental Research/International Association for Dental Research, and Dr. Judith Albino, professor at the University of Colorado. The Tedesco and Albino presentations are included in the conference proceedings.
Dr. Michèle Aerden, president, Fédération Dentaire Internationale (FDI), in Brussels, gave the keynote speech at the Celebrity Dinner, describing her career change from practicing dentistry—following a successful career in fashion and a long and challenging road as wife and mother—to becoming the first woman president of the FDI. "When it comes to organizational leadership," she said, "politics and egos are large barriers. Truth can get distorted and twisted, and truth gets lost, becomes unrecognizable. A good leader will refocus the group back to the truth."
The purpose of these conferences is to provide a place where interactions on these vital subjects can occur. But to extend its value, we are pleased to publish these presentations, edited for these proceedings, along with the poster and oral presentation abstracts. To capture more of the variety of the event, let me share with you a grab-bag of my favorite quotes:
Dr. Mary Krempasky Smith, past president, Washington Dental Association, with regard to assuming a leadership role: "It never occurred to me that I couldn’t do this."Dr. Joyous Pickstock, chief dental officer, Bahamas: "Three main areas of focus regarding the potential of the workforce of the future are shifting demographics, the pace of technology, and globalization/regionalization."
Dr. Barry Cockcroft, deputy chief dental officer, Department of Health, United Kingdom: "The National Health Service, which was established in 1948, made dentistry one of the early benefits."
Dr. Patricia Blanton, professor emeritus, Baylor College of Dentistry: To move toward leadership, we must "support continued recruitment of women in dentistry; develop a database of women in positions; develop a network that crosses boundaries of academia, research, [and] professional strata; encourage mentoring beyond role modeling; and identify and address barriers to women in leadership positions."
Dr. Kimberly Harms, past president, Minnesota Dental Association: "In academics, you have the chance every day to help your students seek the truth."
Dr. Christopher Fox, executive director, American Association for Dental Research/International Association for Dental Research: "Dental caries is one of the most common diseases among 5- to 17-year-olds. Fifty-eight percent of children in this age group have dental caries."
Dr. Samuel Thorpe, executive secretary, Commonwealth Dental Association: "In Africa, it is important to empower communities, especially women and families, to participate in, benefit from, and play a leadership role in identifying oral health problems, needs, and interventions."
Dr. Eric Hovland, president, American Dental Education Association: "Worldwide we are seeing an upward trend in women dentists. In the United States, women now make up 42 percent of students, 16 percent of deans, and 16 percent of practitioners."
Many of the speakers, workshops, and poster and oral presentations clearly demonstrated how oral health care provision differs throughout the world, but commonalities exist. Caries prevention worldwide has improved; the oral-systemic connection has become more obvious; the profession is less gender-focused (in fact, women comprise the majority of practitioners in many countries); the number of women in leadership positions is increasing; and women leaders seek a network that crosses academic, research, and professional boundaries.
As a global community, we are attempting to understand and validate the connections between oral and systemic health. An important message from the conference was how women in other countries view these connections and how they relate to the health of women and families worldwide. A world view of women’s leadership includes the health of women and families. There are lessons to be learned from this imperative. The universal plea from those who attended this conference was a continued focus on women’s leadership in future conferences.
It is a privilege to present these proceedings. We thank our sponsors, especially The Procter and Gamble Company, the major sponsor, and Sue Sandmeyer, who contributed to this statement.
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Footnotes |
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