ADEA Annual Session & Exhibition Comes to Boston
The 2015 American Dental Education Association (ADEA) Annual Session & Exhibition was held at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston, Massachusetts, March 7–10. As always, it provided a forum for ADEA members, other professional colleagues, and industry experts to come together to share knowledge of dentistry and dental education. With the theme “Igniting Minds Unlocking Potential,” the event featured a variety of educational programming sessions, events, member forums, and speakers. From presenting on the symposium stage, to poster presentations, and a tour of the GSDM facilities, members of the GSDM community took part in the session in a variety of ways.
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Dr. Cataldo Leone and several School of Medicine faculty presented a symposium at the annual meeting on March 9. The presentation, “Igniting Minds through Student Self-directed Group Learning: Integrated Problems Sessions,” described GSDM’s Integrated Problems Sessions (IPS) as a flexible, best-practice technique for student active learning. Through the use of case/problem-based scenarios, student response technology, and critical literature review, IPS challenges students to discover, interpret, and apply new knowledge to their dental practice. Co-presenters were Assistant Professor at the Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) Dr. Monica Pessina, Assistant Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at BUSM Dr. Carmen Sarita-Reyes, Professor of Pharmacology in the Department of Pharmacology at BUSM Dr. Carol Walsh, and Assistant Professor in the Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology at BUSM Dr. Elizabeth Whitney. The presentation, which was well attended, had been previously selected as one of only three presentations specially designated as a Chair of the ADEA Board of Directors Symposium.
For two days (March 8–9) during the ADEA meeting, the Exhibit Hall was open and featured more than 90 exhibitor booths, the ADEA TechExpo, and poster presentations by both faculty and students. Among the posters on display was one by Dr. Leone and several of his collaborators titled, “Admissions Criteria for Success in Credential Enhancing Pre-Dental Masters Program,” which described outcomes of the Graduate Medical Sciences (GMS) MS in Oral Health Sciences (OHS) program in promoting students’ admission to dental school. “The primary finding was that student performance in the OHS program positively correlated with their acceptance into dental school, by demonstrating competence in a rigorous graduate curriculum,” said Dr. Leone. His collaborators included Director of the MS Oral Health Sciences Program at BUSM Dr. Theresa Davies, Associate Professor at BUSM Dr. Barbara Schreiber, and MS student Ms. Yoona Choe.
Second year Geriatric Dental Medicine Fellow in the Department of General Dentistry Dr. Annetty Soto took home first place in the ADEA/DENTSPLY International Student Poster Awards which recognizes dental students for outstanding research and innovation. Titled “An Exploration of Clinicians’ Attitudes and Practices in Oral Health for Older Adults,” the findings of her survey study suggest that medical clinicians treating older adults should include an oral health assessment as part of routine care, since older adult patients tend to discontinue regular dental office visits due to cognitive or physical impairment. Yet despite the many years of experience of the clinicians in the sample, the survey results suggest a gap in clinicians’ knowledge, confidence, and performance of oral health assessments and referrals.
In addition to the events at the convention center, attendees of the ADEA Annual Session were given an opportunity to tour GSDM. The tours were led by Assistant Dean of Students Dr. Joseph Calabrese, Chair ad interim in the Department of General Dentistry Dr. Celeste Kong, Associate Director of Student Affairs Ms. Erica Manczuk, and Director of Alumni Relations Ms. Stacey McNamee. During the morning of Saturday, March 7, guests took a tour of GSDM’s 100 East Newton Street building; the Simulation Learning Center, where Assistant Professor in the Department of General Dentistry Dr. Louis Brown was providing a CAD/CAM Digital Dentistry demonstration to members of the AS1 class; and the research lab of Professor in Restorative Sciences & Biomaterials Dr. Laisheng Chou.
Photos are available on Facebook and Flickr.