Dr. Thomas E. SouthardCouncil on Scientific Affairs

Dr. Thomas E. Southard

The Council held its annual meeting on January 8, 2006, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in St. Louis. The date of the next scheduled meeting is January 7, 2007 in St. Louis. Thirty-one applications were received for consideration for the Hellman, Sicher and Graber Awards. All entries were scored blindly by each council member. Entries were discussed and the council agreed on the selection of award recipients.

  • Milo Hellman Research Award to the application titled The Genetic Basis of Craniofrontonasal Dysplasia by Luciana Miranda Van Westen, DDS - University of Iowa
  • Harry Sicher First Research Essay Award to the application titled Evaluation of Orthodontic Mini-Implant Anchorage in Adolescent Premolar Extraction Therapy by Judah S. Garfinkle, DMD, MS - University of Kentucky
  • Thomas M. Graber Award of Special Merit to the following application titles:
  • Pull-out Strengths of Monocortical Screws at Six Weeks Post-Insertion (Clinical Research) by Janice A. Struckhoff, DDS, MS - Ohio State University
  • The Effect of the Transpalatal Arch on Anchorage in Extraction Treatment (Clinical Research) by Heather Zablocki, DMD, MS - University of Michigan
  • RNA Interference of Bmp-4 and Midface Development in Postimplantation Mouse Embryos (Basic Science Research) by Jerome B. Shuman, DMD, MSc - University of Michigan
  • Mandibular Phenotype of p20C/EBPß Transgenic Mice: Reduced Alveolar Bone Mass and Site-Specific Dentin Dysplasia (Basic Science Research) by Tara Savage, DMD, MDS - University of Connecticut

Prior to the meeting, a draft recommendation was distributed to COSA members that would change the nature of the 3 awards and the dollar amounts given for the Sicher and Graber Awards. The Council agreed on the following:

  • That the Hellman Award be for the best Basic Science application and the Sicher for the best Clinical application.
  • That the first essay status in the awards be deleted.

Discussion occurred regarding who was eligible to apply for the Hellman/Sicher/Graber Awards. The Council agreed on the following:

  • That the research or the applicant for the Hellman/Sicher/Graber Awards must come from an ADA or CDA accredited orthodontic program.
  • That there be no time limit for an applicant, after orthodontic training, for submitting research for the Hellman/Sicher/Graber Awards.

The Council did not agree on the following:

  • That the Hellman/Sicher/Graber Awards be restricted to students in ADA and CDA accredited orthodontic programs.

Oral Research/Posterboard/Table Clinics

  1. Applications to Present Oral Research
    Eighty-three applications to present Oral Research were received. The council accepted 28 papers for presentation. Ten applications were rejected for Oral Research but were accepted for Posterboard presentations. The remaining 45 were sent letters of rejection, based on space and time limitations.
  2. Applications to Present Table Clinic Displays
    Forty-eight applications to present table clinic displays were received. Forty-seven were accepted for presentation.
  3. Applications to Present Scientific Posterboard Exhibits
    Of 275 posterboard applications received, 257 were accepted for presentation.
  4. Judges for Table Clinic Awards/Moderators for Oral Research Presentation
    COSA members volunteered to do the following at the 2006 Annual Session:
    Judging Table Clinics: Drs. Ferguson, Kulbersh, and Oesterle Moderator for Hellman/Sicher/Graber Presentations: Dr. Southard
    Moderators for Oral Research: Drs. Nah, Oesterle, Shroff, and Southard
  5. Guidelines for Accepting/Rejecting Oral Research Application for 2007
    The council agreed to the following wording for rejected Table Clinic and Posterboard applications: Thank you for submitting your application. Your application to present a Table Clinic (Posterboard) at the AAO Annual Session has not been accepted. COSA encourages you to submit an application in the future to present a Table Clinic (Posterboard) at Annual Session.
  6. Eligibility Rules
    The council agreed to the following eligibility rules for Oral Research/Posterboards/Table Clinics: Any person attending the meeting can apply. However, only one abstract (first author) can be accepted from each attendee. Further, if an attendee who has an abstract accepted fails to present the abstract and does not notify the AAO office at abstract@aaortho.org within 48 hours of the meeting, that attendee will not be eligible to present the following year.
  7. Subcommittees to Evaluate 2007 Applications
    Oral Research Subcommittee: Drs. Huang and Southard.
    Posterboard Subcommittee: Drs. Kulbersh and Shroff.
    Table Clinics Subcommittee: Drs. English, Ferguson and Nah.
    The COSA member who is elected chair for 2006-2007 will be removed from the subcommittee and the new AAO member who will join the council in 2006-2007 will take the vacant place on the subcommittee.
  8. Procedures for Subcommittees
    The Council agreed to the following procedures:
  • The AAO staff liaison will email the applications to the appropriate subcommittee by November 5. Only those applications applicable to a subcommittee will be sent to subcommittee members.
  • Each subcommittee will decide what applications to accept/reject via email and will notify the AAO staff liaison to COSA of the subcommittee decision by December 1.
  • The AAO staff liaison to COSA will notify the COSA chair and BOT liaison of the subcommittee's decisions.
  • Once the subcommittee decision is accepted by the COSA chair then the AAO staff liaison to COSA will begin notifying applicants of their acceptance or rejection. This should be completed by January 15.
  • The COSA chair and BOT liaison will resolve any conflicts regarding if an application should be accepted or rejected.
  • COSA chair will announce at the annual COSA meeting information regarding number of OR.P.TC applications and number accepted.

The following COSA members volunteered to judge the Resident/Student Scholars: Drs. Shroff, Southard, Ferguson, Nah, Huang, and Kulbersh. COSA nominated Dr. Eugene Roberts for the Norton M. Ross Award for Clinical Research. Prior to the meeting, COSA members were asked to nominate AAO members to serve on the AAOF PARC. The top three nominations were Drs. Jeryl English, Peter Ngan and Thomas Southard. These names will be submitted to the BOT.

Referrals by the 2005 House of Delegates 27-05 H - Systematic Reviews

RESOLVED, that the AAO, in concert with the AAO Foundation (AAOF), encourage systematic reviews to identify those areas within orthodontics that require funding for additional research; and be it further
RESOLVED, that the AAO encourage the AAOF to provide funding for research in important topics found to be lacking in scientific evidence.

28-05 H - Maintenance of Systematic Review and Meta-analyses Lists

RESOLVED, that the AAO maintain an updated list of systematic reviews and meta-analyses on its web site, which is accessible by all members; and be it further
RESOLVED, that the AAO develop summaries of systematic reviews, which will be published in the AJO-DO and made available at the AAO web site; and be it further
RESOLVED, that the Council on Scientific Affairs or other expert panels be directed to develop these summaries.

In December 2005, COSA put up a demo systematic review web site to be used for evaluation purposes prior to the web site being announced to AAO members. This web site can be found under the Library and Research link off the AAO members' web site homepage. COSA members gave the following input to improve the systematic review web site:

  • Develop the web site in such a way that AAO members will be drawn to use it.
  • Hyperlink the title of the article to the PUBMED abstract.
  • Divide web site into sections for systematic review papers, summary/position papers and new systematic reviews (last six months).
  • Go from an Excel spreadsheet to a searchable database.
  • Use MeSH headings to define the subject of the review.
  • That any new questions (with answers), systematic reviews, or position papers added to the web site will be posted in the subsequent AJODO and SOTW.
  • Setup an automatic PUBMED search looking for articles that meet the criteria of the web site.
  • Inform the ABO when new articles are added to web site so these articles might be considered for the ABO exam questions.

In March 2005, COSA wrote its first Ask Us column for the AJODO. The article focused on functional appliances and long-term effects on mandibular growth. Dr. Turpin reported that the article did not get as much of a response as he thought it would. He did receive two lengthy letters opposing the column. Dr. Huang wrote the response to the letters that will be published in the March 2006 AJO-DO issue. The council agreed to write another article for the AJODO this year. Dr. Turpin will take the lead on this article. Possible topics are decalcification and root resorption. The topic will be determined by the number of appropriate articles that can be found on the topics. Dr. Huang and Dr. Ferguson were nominated for COSA chair. All eligible COSA members voted by secret ballot. Dr. Varner collected the ballots.

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