Manchester Hyatt Hotel in San Diego CA
March 14, 2003
The Business Meeting was held on March 14, 2003, 12 noon, at the Marriott River Walk Hotel in conjunction with the American Association for Dental Research Annual Meeting in San Antonio.
The Board had arranged a nice buffet and with a view from the meeting room over the River Walk - an excellent setting.
Approval of Minutes
The Association President, Dr. Allen Otsuka, called the meeting to order. He opened the meeting by extending his appreciation
to the officers for their efforts during the past year and to the members attending the meeting.
The minutes for the preceeding year 2002 business meeting in San Diego, CA, were distributed and approved without changes.
President’s Report
Dr. Otsuka started by congratulating President-elect, Dr. Mark Wolf for organizing the excellent symposium entitled
“Demonstration of the Role of Basic Science Education in Clinical Decision-making: A Case-based Discussion.”
The symposium, which was co-sponsored by the AAOB, the AADR Education Research Group, and the ADEA Sections of Oral Biology,
Microbiology and Biochemistry and Nutrition, was well attended. Of note, in addition to Dr. Wolf, another active member of
the AAOB, Dr. Kleinberg was a speaker at the symposium.
The success of the symposium confirms the importance of the AAOB as an active partner in providing leadership in teaching of oral biology issues. A discussion ensued on the potential for interacting with the ADEA oral biology teaching issues that are now receiving significant interest in that organization. Importantly, several of the AAOB members are also active in those activities
Report from the Secretart-Treasurer
Dr. Otsuka read the written report from the AAOB treasurer, Dr. Salomon Amar. Our financial status is sound. Checking
Account balance as of 3/05/03 = $792.18
Money Market Account Balance as of 3/05/03 = $11,576.64
Total funds held by AAOB = $12,368.82
Forty-six members have paid the Association dues of $12 for the 2003 calendar year amounting to $552. On the basis of the current account balances, the members at the meeting decided to maintain the current dues at $ 12 for the next membership year.
Critical Reviews in Oral Biology and Medicine – Report from the Editor
Dr. Olav Alvares reported on the state of this journal, which was initiated on his initiative to generate state-of-the-art reviews on issues with
pertinence to oral biology and has served as the official publication of the AAOB. At this time, 52 manuscripts are in various stages in the
pipeline. Dr. Alvares reported that consistent efforts are needed to ensure new and exciting reviews. He would welcome suggestions to
reviews by the members of the AAOB. Despite the high quality of the journal, unfortunately the low subscription rate makes it a financial liability
for the IADR/AADR. In spite of enhanced, but not sufficiently successful marketing efforts to address this financial issue, the AADR/IADR officers
were considering a merger of the Journal of Dental Research and the CROBM. A proposal entails maintaining the name of the CROBM along with
the JDR on the cover of the merged journal. A decision was anticipated during the San Antonio meeting entailing a merger starting January 2003. With
the current trend in publications, members should expect that JDR and CROBM will be electronically published only – although this cannot be
said with certainty.
The meeting commended Dr. Alvares for his continued efforts on the journal and assured him strong support from the AAOB in the upcoming discussions on the future of the journal.
The Annual Oral Biology Awards to Graduating Seniors
Dr. Frank Dowd reported on the Oral Biology Program that he has actively coordinated for a number of years. This program relies on the support
by the deans of the dental school. For this reason, a more long-term financial arrangement with a potential industrial or other sponsor would
be a positive development.
According to the award arrangement, letters are sent to the deans of all dental school in the US and Canada, who are encouraged to support the program and to select an awardee according to a set of criteria. In addition to a certificate with the AAOB seal, the recipient receives one-year free subscription to the CROBM and listed in the journal.
Dr. Dowd reported on his many positive experiences during his oversight of this award program. On his request, Dr. Allen Otsuka was selected by the Business meeting to coordinate the program starting 2003.
The attendees at the Business meeting expressed their gratitude for the contributions to the Oral Biology Award program that Dr. Dowd has made over a number of years.
Proposal to Institute New Prize for Best Oral Biology Paper.
The meeting considered to institute an annual prize of $ 500 for the best published paper in the area of oral biology. The proposal was well
received, but a final decision was not made at the meeting. The potential for assuring sponsorship for such an award should be investigated.
New Business
An interesting, informal discussion followed on the ongoing activities to develop guidelines for Oral Biology curricular guidelines. Dr. Wolf
serves on the Oral Biology, Dr. Otsuka on the Biochemistry, and Dr. London on the Microbiology work groups under the ADEA to develop guidelines for
the curricula. This ensures a strong influence on the development of the guidelines. All three members encourage suggestions from the
AAOB members to assist them in their efforts. Issues encountered in the process of defining curricular guidelines include the fact that neither
the ADA National Boards nor the dental schools generally have well-defined definitions and expectations for the oral biology expectations and requirements. The
developmental process to achieve better defined guidelines and curricular guidelines is expected to take approximately 3 years. Many of the
attendees at the AAOB business meeting stressed the pertinence of the process relative to the AAOB goals.
Dr. Otsuka is working on a proposal that will survey all US dental schools and dental hygiene schools on the number of hours in each basic science discipline and the personnel needed to teach those courses. One intent of this survey is to identify prospective members for ADEA and AAOB. This proposal will be submitted to the ADEA Council of Sections in September.
The status of the AAOB web site as a forum for information and other exchange came up. The site, which was initially developed by Dr. Steve London and later maintained by Dr. Mike Dodds, currently is inactive. Yet, support files still exist. There was broad support for getting the site re-activated. Dr. Andy Spielman, 2000-2001 AAOB president, has fortunately assured AAOB ownership of the web name. The potential and possibilities are great and could for example include listing of contact information and personal web site links for members of the society to facilitate interactions and exposure to the educational and scientific community; posting and sharing of educational materials such as those cases presented at the symposium discussed above to assist in course development; including links to the ADEA activities on curricular developments; on-line access to CROBM articles for use in course developments – Dr. Alvares will check on any limitations in the access to CROBM articles and abstracts. The meeting decided to provide Dr. Steve London with financial support to pay (up to $2500) for help to update files on the web site. This is a priority of the next year’s activities.
Dr. Bjorn Steffensen will work with Dr. London on the contents of the web site.
Election of officers
Membership elections and appointments resulted in the following board for 2003-2004:
| President: | Dr. Mark Wolf |
| President-elect: | Dr. Bjorn Steffensen |
| Past-president: | Dr. Allen Otsuka |
| Elected directors: | Dr. Joel Rudney Dr. Steve London |
| Appointed directors: | Dr. Ken Etzel Dr. Israel Kleinberg |
The meeting adjourned 1:30 PM.
Minutes were prepared and submitted by Dr. Bjorn Steffensen, President-Elect.
