GSDM Community “Engages” at 2012 ADEA Annual Session & Exhibition

Members of the GSDM community headed south in mid-March for the 2012 American Dental Education Association (ADEA) Annual Session & Exhibition, held in Orlando, Florida. The theme of this year’s Annual Session was “ENGAGE,” and participants were encouraged to see the future—not just of dental education, but of all health professions education.

Assistant Professor Brenda Heaton attended as Chair of the Community & Preventive Dentistry Section and her group presented a lecture titled, “Using Civic Engagement and Community Service Learning to Foster Ethics and Cultural Responsiveness in the Future Dental Workforce (FDW).” Dr. Heaton also ran in the ADEA Fun Run/Walk, a 5k race, where she placed first with a time of 24:07. Dr. Heaton is currently training for a half marathon next month in Utah and a full marathon later this year.

She said, “It was fun to enjoy a little healthy competition in between the meetings.”

Also at the Annual Session Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives and Massachusetts Dental Society (MDS) President-Elect Paula K. Friedman presented the ADEA/Gies Award for Innovation to a Public or Private Organization to MDS. President Dr. Charles Silvius accepted the award, which was given to MDS for its many initiatives, including the Leadership Institute, access to care programs, support of the three Boston dental schools, and oral health advocacy programs.

Kelsey Hill DMD 14 and Arsalan Elahi DMD 14, GSDM representatives to the ADEA Council of Students, Residents and Fellows (CoSRF), attended the Annual Session as well. While there they attended education sessions with CoSRF representatives from other schools.

Hill said, “The highlight of this great experience was being at the forefront of dental education reform and improvement. At the meeting I was elected to serve as the ADEA CoSRF Northeast regional student representative, which will be a great way for me to help GSDM get more students involved with ADEA and stay informed with the ongoing changes in dental education across the country.” She continued, “I really enjoyed getting to interact with the other ADEA CoSRF student members, not only in the classroom environment, but also in a social context. I look forward to next year’s ADEA Annual Session in Seattle for another great opportunity to learn more about dental education.”

Another student, Mahesh Sadhnani DMD 12, attended the Annual Session as part of an ADEA Johnson & Johnson Healthcare Products Preventive Dentistry Scholarship. Sadhnani was one of 12 students-nationwide selected to receive the annual scholarship, which is given to support pre-doctoral students who have demonstrated academic excellence in preventive dentistry. Sadhnani was nominated for this award by Dean Jeffrey W. Hutter with the support of Assistant Dean for Community Partnerships and Extramural Affairs Michelle Henshaw. Sadhnani also credits Oral Health Promotion Director Kathy Lituri with helping him win the scholarship. Sadhnani has been a constant fixture in many of Lituri’s community health volunteer opportunities since enrolling at GSDM.

Photos are available on facebook and flickr.