ADEAGies Foundation Announces Winners of the 2013 William J. Gies Awards for Vision, Innovation, and Achievement

Awards to be Presented at Celebration in Conjunction with the 2013 ADEA Annual Session & Exhibition in Seattle

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The ADEAGies Foundation is pleased to announce the winners of the 2013 William J. Gies Awards for Vision, Innovation, and Achievement (Gies Awards). The Gies Awards, named after dental education pioneer William J. Gies, Ph.D., honor individuals and organizations exemplifying dedication to the highest standards of vision, innovation, and achievement in dental education, research, and leadership. Johnson & Johnson Healthcare Products, Division of McNEIL-PPC, Inc., is the premier sponsor.

“The William J. Gies Awards are truly a high honor in the field of dental education”

The Gies Awards will be presented March 18, at a highly anticipated celebration to be held in conjunction with the 2013 American Dental Education Association (ADEA) Annual Session & Exhibition, taking place March 16-19, in Seattle. The 2013 honorees were selected by a distinguished panel of judges consisting of the ADEAGies Foundation Board of Trustees.

The ADEAGies Foundation congratulates the following award recipients:

Gies Award for Outstanding Achievement - Public or Private Partner
Dr. Jennifer L. Cleveland, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Gies Award for Outstanding Achievement - Dental Educator
Dr. D. Walter Cohen, University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine

Gies Award for Outstanding Vision - Dental Educator
Dr. Russell O. Gilpatrick, Midwestern University College of Dental Medicine-Arizona

Gies Award for Outstanding Achievement - Dental Educator
Dr. Ernestine S. Lacy, Baylor College of Dentistry

Gies Award for Outstanding Vision - Public or Private Partner
Minnesota Dental Research Center for Biomaterials and Biomechanics

Gies Award for Outstanding Innovation - Dental Educator
Dr. Wilhelm A. Piskorowski, University of Michigan School of Dentistry

Gies Award for Outstanding Innovation - Academic Dental Institution
The University of Colorado School of Dental Medicine

Gies Award for Outstanding Achievement - Academic Dental Institution
University of North Carolina Craniofacial Center

“The William J. Gies Awards are truly a high honor in the field of dental education,” says Richard W. Valachovic, D.M.D., M.P.H., President of the ADEAGies Foundation and Executive Director of ADEA. “By shining a light on the extraordinary work of dental educators, academic institutions, and our partners—the best and the brightest in academic dentistry—the ADEAGies Foundation recognizes those who blaze a path for a new generation of leaders in dental education.”

The Gies Awards are presented by the ADEAGies Foundation, the philanthropic arm of ADEA. For more than 50 years, the ADEAGies Foundation has enhanced the oral health of the public through programs that support dental education, research, leadership, and recognition.

Tickets for the celebration can be purchased online at www.adea.org, when registering for the 2013 ADEA Annual Session & Exhibition. Sponsored tables are available. For more information, please contact Trish Smith at 703-506-3272.

About The William J. Gies Foundation: The William J. Gies (pronounced guys) Foundation was established in 1950 by colleagues and admirers of Dr. Gies with seed funds raised by the American College of Dentists. It was a private foundation and the first U.S. foundation to support dental education and scholarship. In 2002, it joined with the American Dental Education Association (ADEA) to form ADEAGies Foundation, a public foundation.

About William J. Gies and the Gies Report: William Gies was a Columbia University biochemistry professor and founder of the College of Dental Medicine at Columbia University, where he was interested in dental education, science, and clinical applications. In 1926, as part of a series of studies on U.S. professional education funded by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Dr. Gies published a landmark report that established the importance of dentistry as a healing science and an essential component of higher education in the health professions. The Gies Report, Dental Education in the United States and Canada, took five years to research and write. It consists of 250 pages of text and more than 400 pages of appendices, including lengthy descriptions and evaluations of the existing dental schools, each of which Dr. Gies visited. Since the Gies Report, there have been many other reports on dental education in the context of health professions education. However, Dental Education in the United States and Canada remains to this day the most relevant survey of dental education and critical issues within the field.

About ADEA: The American Dental Education Association (ADEA) is the voice of dental education. Its members include all U.S. and Canadian dental schools and many allied and advanced dental education programs, corporations, faculty, and students. The mission of ADEA is to lead individuals and institutions of the dental education community to address contemporary issues influencing education, research, and the delivery of oral health care for the health of the public. ADEA’s activities encompass a wide range of research, advocacy, faculty development, meetings, and communications, like the esteemed Journal of Dental Education, as well as the dental school admissions services AADSAS, PASS, and CAAPID.