(December 1, 2009) – The ADEAGies Foundation will honor The Forsyth Institute with an Outstanding Achievement Award at the Gies Awards celebration to be held on February 27, 2010, in Washington, DC, in conjunction with the 2010 ADEA Annual Session & Exhibition. The William J. Gies Awards for Vision, Innovation, and Achievement recognize contributions to, and support of global oral health and education initiatives. For a complete listing of Gies Award winners, visit www.adeagiesfoundation.org.
Forsyth is being honored in the category of Outstanding Achievement for a Dental Institution. Founded in 1910 as a dental infirmary for children, Forsyth has been making contributions to the field of oral health for nearly a century. Between 1914 and the mid-1950s, an estimated 500,000 children received free dental care at the Forsyth Dental Infirmary for Children. In the mid-1900s, researchers at Forsyth revolutionized the oral health profession when they discovered the connections between dental decay and specific bacteria. Building on these scientific advances, the Institute has become the world's leading independent research organization dedicated to promoting human health and well-being through scientific discovery, clinical care and education. Today, Forsyth also brings the benefits of its expertise to the community through the ForsythKids school-based cavity prevention program, which provides oral disease prevention to thousands of disadvantaged children each year in Eastern Massachusetts.
"It is an honor to be recognized by the ADEAGies Foundation in our Centennial year," said Dr. Philip Stashenko, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Forsyth Institute. "This award is a tribute to the remarkable contributions that the Forsyth scientific staff has made over many decades. Our scientists have been responsible for many of the seminal discoveries in oral and craniofacial science and for training many of today's leaders in dental research and education."
About The Forsyth Institute: Forsyth is the world's leading independent organization dedicated to scientific research and education in oral health and related biomedical sciences. Established in 1910, Forsyth's goal is to lead the discovery, communication and application of breakthroughs in oral health and disease prevention that will significantly improve the health and well-being of the nation and the world. For more information about Forsyth visit its web site at www.forsyth.org.
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 interested in dental education, science, and their 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 comprehensive survey of dental education and critical issues within the field.
About ADEA: The American Dental Education Association (ADEA) is the leading national organization for dental education. Its members include all U.S. and Canadian dental schools, dental research institutes, and many advanced dental education programs, allied 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 such as the esteemed Journal of Dental Education, as well as the dental school admissions services AADSAS and PASS.