January 24 , 2012

Welcome Back and Happy New Year!

I wish everyone all the best in 2012. It will be an exciting year with a fair amount of celebrating - the Gies Award on March 19, 2012 and our Centennial Celebrations, May 23-26.

Since our last meeting on September 6, 2011 we have experienced a few changes: Dr. Debora Matthews is on sabbatical from January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2012. I would like you to welcome Dr. Bob Loney as Acting Chair for the Department of Dental Clinical Sciences. We wish you an exciting and prosperous year.

Congratulations To:

1. Our Faculty” as the proud recipients of the 2012 William J. Gies Award for Outstanding Achievement for a Dental Education Institution. This is a first for a Faculty of Dentistry in Canada. Our Faculty was chosen based on our superior demonstration of outstanding achievement as an academic dental institution in support of dental education. We will be formally recognized at the Gies Award Celebration on March 19, 2012 at the ADEA Annual Session inn Orlando, Florida.
2. Dr. Daniel Boyd (with co-investigators, Dr. Bob Abraham and Dr. Sharon Kehoe) for winning the first ever Bio-Innovation Challenge. The $30K award was for its OccluRad particles which are used to treat fibroid tumors in women.
   The Bio-Innovation Challenge is a competition designed by Bio Nova, Nova Scotia’s life science industry association along with several partners, seeking to create a smooth transition from lab to industry.
   Dr. Sharon Kehoe, post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Applied Oral Sciences along with co-investigators Drs. Daniel Boyd and Bob Abraham have been awarded Phase II Early Stage Commercialization Funding from Innovacorp for “Product Development of the OccluDel Embolic Delivery System and OccluRad re-filled Capsules”.
3. Drs. Matthews and McNally who hosted the “Closing the Gap Workshop, Celebrating 10 years of Oral Health Research on Older Nova Scotians”. The workshop opened with greetings from the Minister of Health Honorable Maureen MacDonald. The research group started with a $20,000 grant which had spin-offs to nearly $1.5 million in cumulative research funding.
4. Dr. David Precious gave the plenary session lecture on orthognathic surgery dealing with Congenital and Development Deformities to the North American Strasbourg Osteosynthesis Research Group in Chicago, Illinois, October 15, 2011.
5. Drs. Sachin Seth, Mark Knechtel and Cynthia Andrews from the Department of Dental Clinical Sciences and Professor Kim Haslam from the School of Dental Hygiene on their successful completion and graduation in their Masters in Education. Well done!
6. Professors Heather Doucette and Peggy Maillet on their successful award for a Tobacco Cessation Education Grant. The study will evaluate the effect of the implementation of new tobacco dependency education modules specific to First Nations and Inuit Populations in the Dental Hygiene Curriculum.
7. Faculty of Dentistry for this year’s Homecoming Event, “The Second Annual Pumpkin Carving Contest”. Over 260 alumni, students, staff, faculty members and members of the Dalhousie Community cast their vote for their favorite pumpkins. Special thanks to event organizer, Mr. Jon Bruhm, Alumni Officer.
8. Dr. Mary McNally for her cross-appointment with the Department of Bioethics, Faculty of Medicine.
9. Eight Dalhousie Dentistry and Dental Hygiene students who presented their summer research at the Annual Interprofessional Health Research Day (formerly known as Health Trainee Research Day) on November 16, 2011. Coralie Ayer, Samantha Brenton, Benjamin Lamarche, Jacquelyn Levangie, Katherine Logan, Sarah Orser and Michelle Ravlo gave poster presentations and Danny Pond gave a platform presentation.
   Samantha Brenton was awarded first place in her category for her poster “Effects of Xerostomic Medications on the Oral Health of Older Nova Scotians, mentors - Drs. Mary McNally and Deborah Matthews.
10. Bobby Nadeau, 1st year dentistry students as G2 Male Athlete of the Week. The Lac-Etchemin, QC native stood tall in the Tigers net on Tuesday, January 3, blocking 22 shots for a 5-4 overtime exhibition victory against UPEI, with outstanding performances on Tuesday and Saturday of that week as well.
11. Dr. John Lovas for offering the first ever for Dalhousie - mindfulness course for academic leaders starting January 24 at 8:00 a.m., Dentistry Building Room 4114.

I wish each of you a very happy and successful 2012. I will end with this quote from Madeline Bridges, an American Poet.

“Give to the world the best you have and the best will come back to you.”