Hello to the Oral Health Section!
As I begin my second year as chair, I hope we can all work together to strengthen the Oral Health Section and better serve our membership. 
I’d like to welcome and recognize our new Section leadership team members who continue their terms or began their terms at the end of the November 2009 meeting in Philadelphia. Our new secretary is Natalie Hagel; new Governing Councilor is Woosung Sohn; new Section Councilors are Kathy Lituri and Gina Thornton-Evans. I look forward to working with those who are continuing their term of office: Howard Pollick, past chair; Oscar Arevalo, chair-elect; Amos Deinard, Governing Councilor and Policy Committee chair; and Giusy Romano-Clarke, Sandra Beebe, Lynn A. Bethel, and David P. Cappelli, Section Councilors.
This is the second year for Newsletter Editor Jay Friedman and for Program Planning Chair David Cappelli. We also welcome Gina Thornton-Evans as our new Web site editor, and Josefine Wolfe as our new Student Assembly liaison. A list of the Leadership Team follows later in this Newsletter. We appreciate the effort and dedication to the Oral Health Section.
A big thank you is also due the outgoing officers, as well as those who helped on committees, such as Membership, Awards, Newsletter, etc. Thanks to outgoing Section Councilors Beth Hines and David Krol, and Governing Councilor Oscar Arevalo. A special thank you to Kathy Lituri for her two terms (seven years) as secretary. Wow! Her dedication to the Section and how she helped us become better organized is much appreciated.
While APHA does much to support our activities, much of the Section’s success is due to the volunteer efforts of our membership. Please pitch in and help us improve our Section.
2009 Annual Meeting: What a great Annual Meeting in Philadelphia! There is more information in this Newsletter on the meeting events, including the awards received. A great job was done by the Program Planning Committee chaired by David Cappelli, booth coordination by Lynn Bethel and Kathy Lituri, and everyone else who helped with organizing sessions, the awards ceremony, the business meetings, the booth, worked as moderators, etc, etc. A special thanks to Gary Podshun for assuring that our sessions received continuing dental education credit.
The oral sessions and posters were very high caliber, and we thank the authors and presenters for making the program stimulating and informative. The oral sessions covered a wide range of topics, including service learning, health home, multidisciplinary diabetes care, IOM Oral Health Workforce Report, community water fluoridation, Healthy People 2020, dental care for those with HIV/AIDS, health literacy, state oral health program infrastructure and capacity, maternal and child oral health, improving access, and oral-systemic linkages.
Congratulations to Matthew Swan for receiving the Anthony Jong Pre-Professional Award, and to Gary Rozier for receiving the John Knutson Award. The Section dinner that followed at Estia was a festive, memorable evening for all. Thank you also to our sponsors whose generosity allowed us to hold our reception and awards ceremonies: Colgate Oral Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Omni, a 3M ESPE company, and LCI, Ltd.
Our next Annual Meeting will be in Denver, Nov. 6-10, 2010. David Cappelli and Kathy Lituri are heading up the Program Planning Committee, and I am confident we will have another outstanding scientific program. I hope you have submitted an abstract. Make plans now to join us in Denver!
Healthy People 2020: The Oral Health Section continues to participate in the process to develop Healthy People 2020. I made comments at the Regional Hearing held in Philadelphia on the draft 2020 Objectives. We continue to participate with a group including ASTDD, AAPHD, and other partners to comment on the draft objectives. A joint set of comments on the draft Objectives was submitted at the end of December. Stay tuned.
ASTDD Partners Meeting: I represented the APHA Oral health Section at the ASTDD Partners meeting held in December. This one-day meeting was a great interchange of how organizations with an interest in the public’s oral health can work together to impact policies and programs at the national, state and local levels. Examples include our efforts in Healthy People 2020 and in educating policy-makers around health reform and work force issues.
Health Reform: I assume you are a bit taken aback, as I am, by the halt in progress on health care reform. I continue to remain hopeful for comprehensive reform this year that will retain many of the significant changes that will enhance our efforts to improve oral health, as well as the public’s overall health. I appreciate the efforts of all of you who responded to my requests to make your views known to your policy-makers about the ways to improve Americans’ oral health. We worked with numerous organizations to submit joint letters on several issues, including dental health aide therapist, provisions affecting Indian Health Service programs, and significant portions of the House and Senate bills that would positively impact oral health. We worked with APHA central office staff to include APHA as a signatory to these letters, and we appreciate their assistance. I may be asking for your help again as this process plays out.
New Members: Last, but not least, welcome to our new Oral Health Section members! Whether new to APHA or joining us as a second or third Section, we look forward to your participation as we strive to advance the public’s oral health. I ask that all Section members consider recruiting a new member from your sphere of colleagues and students. Existing APHA members who belong to other Sections can join Oral Health as a second or third Section for $30/year. There is also a joint membership pilot program to join both the state public health association and APHA for a reduced fee that is ongoing in Northern California, Kansas, Massachusetts, and Ohio. Please let Membership Committee Chair Sandie Beebe know if you’ve successfully recruited a new member.
For those of you new to the Oral Health Section, we encourage your involvement in Section’s activities, whether on a committee or by running for an office. And for those who have already been through a leadership experience, give some thought to getting involved again.
We welcome your energy and experience. We are looking for more help on our Membership and Policy Committees, with local arrangements and booth coordination for the Denver meeting, policy reviewers to review and comment on new proposed policies that may be considered by the APHA Governing Council, and to review existing policies in selected topic areas for current relevance.
Please e-mail me if you are interested. Feel free to contact me or any member of the Section leadership to discuss your interests in participating in the Section or concerns you may have about how we can better serve our membership.
Best wishes for a wonderful, successful 2010.
Scott Presson
E-mail: spresson@bellsouth.net