Trustee Report – Fall 2020

As 2020 grinds on with reports of increasing COVID-19 cases, I hope this finds everyone well and managing to make the best of the difficult situation that this pandemic is presenting to all of us.

The AAPD met virtually for the Fall Ad Interim Board of Trustees meeting to manage the affairs of the Academy. As I reported previously, this pandemic has been difficult and uncharted waters for all of us and that certainly includes the AAPD. I want to share with you that our AAPD staff in Chicago continue to do an absolutely amazing job working for each of us and managing the AAPD and all that we have come to expect from our organization.

The AAPD is still a strong presence in Washington, DC, lobbying on our behalf regarding issues that are of concern to all of us. This is of course, occurring in a virtual format and many of our AAPD colleagues have participated in virtual meetings and town halls presenting information to candidates prior to Election Day. The AAPD PAC donated dollars to Senate and House candidates at the national level and 100% of the Senate candidates contributed to won their respective elections and 97% of the House candidates won their respective races. Thanks to all of you who participated in these pre-election meetings and get-togethers. It is so important to have friends in Washington and our PPA’s and other leadership within the SWSPD appreciate your help!

The AAPD recently hosted a hugely successful virtual seminar this past weekend – Tethered Oral Tissues Symposium. It spanned two days and if you missed the live version, you may still register and watch the recorded version at your convenience and receive CE credit. Stay tuned for future offerings from the AAPD that will be in virtual format and hopefully live and in-person soon.

While talking about meetings, I have seen many questions from AAPD members asking about the future of the annual sessions. As you are most likely aware, the 2021 Annual Session is scheduled to occur in Boston next year in May. The AAPD meeting team is working on several scenarios for this meeting and have preliminary budgets for these scenarios. They range from a fully virtual meeting with many improvements from the NashVirtual meeting this year to 50% virtual / 50% live meeting to 30% virtual / 70% live attendance meeting. The unknown at this point is the state of the pandemic come 2021. Obviously, the city of Boston and the state of Massachusetts will be making decisions that will influence the decisions of hotels, meeting spaces and our Academy. The BOT will be monitoring the situation and as we did this year, a decision will be made that keeps our safety at the top of our thoughts. Look for more information on this in early 2021.

There were several items that the BOT decided at the Ad Interim meeting that I thought you might be interested in knowing. First, I am excited and proud that the AAPD is going to add Dr. Heber Simmons as a special consultant to the AAPD Board of Trustees. Heber has been an amazing asset of the AAPD for many years and having his advice and knowledge available to the BOT going forward is invaluable.

I am also proud that the BOT has instructed the Task Force on Equity and Inclusion to continue work on a number of items to further the work of the AAPD to develop an Antiracism, Equity and Inclusion policy. Please watch for this important work to continue and to result in a great policy statement.

The AAPD and the CAPD (Canadian Academy of Pediatric Dentistry) are planning a joint meeting in September 2021 in Montreal. The BOT appointed doctors David Avenetti, Anthea Mazzawi and Kevin Donly as the scientific program coordinators. This should be a great meeting so mark this on your calendars for next year.

As always, please contact me if you have any questions or concerns regarding your AAPD.

John Fales

AAPD Trustee representing the Southwest Society of Pediatric Dentistry