President-Elect's Report
Dr. Mel B. DeSoto
The torch for SWSO trustee has been passed to Gayle Glenn and I am now the AAO President-Elect with a year to prepare for the AAO Presidency. Editor, Brian Smith, has graciously asked that I continue with reports. I will have a busy July with a Board of Trustees Planning Session in Colorado, an Annual Session Planning Committee meeting in New Orleans, the CDABO meeting in Oregon as the official representative of the AAO, and a meeting of the Commission of Dental Accreditation at the end of July in Chicago. From August through November, I will attend the ADA meeting, four constituency annual meetings (SWSO, PCSO, MASO, and SAO), and the August and November AAO Board of Trustee meetings. There will be decisions made at some of those meetings that will impact the care our patients.
None of these trips will be more important than the late July meeting of the Commission on Dental Accreditation which will consider the application of the University of Colorado's Dental School for accreditation of its proposed orthodontic graduate program that will be funded by the Orthodontic Education Corporation. The graduate residency program at Jacksonville University received initial accreditation status last July and its first class is enrolled and will complete its first year in August. CU will be the second such program funded by OEC if approved. A third University, the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, has announced their intentions of applying for accreditation of a similar program, also financed by OEC. The AAO has and will monitor the applications through our AAO representative on the commission and take appropriate action if necessary to ensure that the education process and the options of the students and graduates are not compromised by the financial support of OEC. By the time that you read this, the Commission probably will have ruled.
The AAO House of Delegates considered many resolutions concerning reorganization of the AAO governmental structure in Orlando and the end result was only a mild tweaking of the meeting schedule of the House rather than larger changes as advocated by some. The general sentiment of the House, as evidenced by the votes, was that the present structure has served us well. I agree with that assessment and hope rather than concentrating on our governance structure which we have done for the eight years that I have been on the AAO Board, we will focus all of our efforts and resources for at least a few years into the issues of orthodontic graduate education, improving membership programs, and increasing public awareness of the benefits of orthodontic treatment. An emphasis on improving these services, rather than on internal structure, will result in a stronger membership base, increased membership satisfaction, and a continued high rate of members willing to volunteer for positions in leadership.
Your leadership needs your support as we face major issues in our specialty. No one issue is more important than the financing of orthodontic education but we have other important issues as well. We need to continue to raise the quality of treatment to the public through postgraduate orthodontic education of our members and support of orthodontic research (The AAOF), and we need to use our resources to increase awareness and availability of orthodontic services to a larger segment of the population. These are large challenges that we face but I believe that we have a membership base that has the skills, leadership, resources, and will to meet these challenges, and combined with an AAO staff that is talented and committed, we can face the future with confidence. Thank for your continuing messages of encouragement and for the opportunity to serve in this high office. Hope to see all of you at the SWSO annual meeting in Oklahoma City.