American Dental Education Association
Council of Sections
Section on Physiology, Pharmacology & Therapeutics
Annual Report
2008
I.
Contact Information
Section of Physiology, Pharmacology & Therapeutics
Report prepared by: Gary E. Jeffers, DMD, MS
University of Detroit Mercy, School of Dentistry
Office held: Councilor (just completed first term and
continuing on for a second three-year term ending
2011)
Phone: 313-494-6678
Fax: 313-494-6666
Email: jefferge@udmercy.edu
Date of annual report submission:
II.
Mission Statement
The purpose of this Section is to provide a resource for the exchange of ideas
concerning human physiology pedagogical and research issues in dental
education, as well as ideas related to the teaching of pharmacology and
therapeutics.
III.
Goals and Objectives
The primary goals of the Section on Physiology, Pharmacology and
Therapeutics are to continue networking with other related Sections, the Basic
Science Caucus and outside entities, e.g., AADR/IADR/AAOMS/etc. in order
to share ideas and participate in collaborative research and to explore common
interests in educational opportunities, to work toward development of
meaningful collaborative programming and to actively seek other ways to
further integrate the basic sciences with the clinical curricula.
IV.
Accomplishments
The Section on Physiology, Pharmacology and Therapeutics was a co-sponsor
of a program along with the ADEA Section on Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery,
Anesthesia and Hospital Dentistry. The joint venture was entitled :Medical
Education in Dentistry.” Presenters included Dr. Jeffrey Bennett, Allen
Otsuka, Choong Foong, James Hupp and Paul Tiwana.
This Section has contributed to provide leadership to the Basic Science Caucus since
its inception, and for the fourth consecutive year, Dr. Michael Landers has been
elected to serve as Chair. The Section Councilor, Dr. Gary Jeffers, also continues to
serve as Councilor for the AADR/IADR Pharmacology, Therapeutics and Toxicology
Research Group.
V.
Membership and Attendance
A. As of February 2006 total Section membership, under the “open
enrollment” concept, has escalated to 433 members, although most of
those individuals on the roster are unknown to the current Section officers.
This, in a way, is exciting, but only if these individuals can be encouraged
to attend future meetings and participate in the development and execution
of future Section activities. The present membership total includes 15
Administrators, 73 Full-Time Faculty, 21 Part-Time Faculty, 0 Retired, 28
Allied Students, 17 Postgraduate Students, 232 Predoctoral Students and
47 with other affiliations. This total represents an approximate 100%
increase over that of the previous year.
B. Although it was difficult to capture the names of all in attendance during
the 2006 Annual Session Section program due to a mixed audience, many
of whom did not sign the attendance record, the turnout was quite
respectable, and the attendees seemed to enjoy the program.
C. Eight to ten Section members were noted to be attending the 2006 Annual
Session educational program. Due to the fact that the Section program
was a joint AADE/AADR/IADR Symposium on the overlapping day of
the conference, many Section members had already left the meeting by
that time. Additionally, an audience of that nature that attracts individuals
of varied interests and many of those in attendance simply did not sign the
attendance roster. However, with the roster that was obtained during the
session and with several Section members taking random counts of
attendees at various times throughout the presentation, the estimated total
attendance of approximately 250 seems to be relatively accurate.
D. Although there were only seven individuals present for the Section
business meeting this year, this represents more than a 35% increase over
the attendance at the 2007 meeting. But, the most exciting thing is that
four attendees were here for the first time, and for the first time in many
years we were able to elect a Secretary from among those attending for the
first time rather than having to rely upon the recycling method that we
have been forced to use to fill our officer positions in the past. Perhaps
this is a result of the open enrollment membership initiative, as it has
encouraged people to attend the meeting who may not have otherwise
done so. Additionally, due to prior commitments, our Section Councilor,
Dr. Gary Jeffers, was not able to attend this year’s meeting.
VI.
Section Structure
A. Newly elected officers include the following:
Councilor
Dr. Gary Jeffers
University of Detroit Mercy, Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery
2700 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.; Detroit, MI 48208-2576
Phone: 313-494-6678
Fax: 313-494-6666
Email: jefferge@udmercy.edu
Chair
Dr. W. Choong Foong
University of Detroit Mercy; Department of Biomedical Sciences
2700 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.; Detroit, MI 48208-2576
Phone: 313-494-6631
Fax: 313-494-6643
Email: foongwc@udmercy.edu
Chair Elect
Dr. David Shaw
University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Dentistry
40th & Holdrege; Lincoln, NE 68583-0740
Phone: 402-472-1379
Fax: 402-472-2551
Email: dshaw@unmc.edu
Secretary
Dr. Medha Gautam
Southern Illinois University
School of Dental Medicine, Bldg. #288
2800 College Ave.
Alton, IL 62002
Phone: 618-474-7288
Fax: 618-474-7140
Email: <mgautam@siue.edu>
VII.
Financial Support
There are no organizations providing financial support for this Section. The
Section still maintains a funding balance that should enable it to support its
programming activities and/or Interim Meeting participation for the next
several years.
VIII. Section Communications
This Section continues to communicate with its members primarily via
electronic media, e.g., email, listserv, etc. With the merger and the realization
that our membership base has skyrocketed from a meager handful of members
to over 230 members, we now face the task of increasing communication
efforts to entice those newly acquired members to increase their involvement
with the Section. The Listserv proved to be a very valuable communication
tool this year when it was discovered that the announcement of our joint
symposium with AADR/IADR had been inadvertently omitted from the
published ADEA program. The Listserv enabled us to inform our Section
members of this problem to assure that they were informed of the planned
programming activities. Nonetheless, electronic media has been adequate to
enable sufficient communication throughout the year to enable our Section to
function appropriately, to develop and plan a successful program, and to allow
us to network between meetings.
IX.
Meeting Minutes
See Section IV of this report for a review of the Section program. Our
Section, being small in comparison to other sections, has done well in
continuing to network with other sections and to offer joint sponsorship in
program development and implementation. It was determined several years
ago that this was the best approach for us to assure continued success as a
viable section, and this logic has proved to be beneficial to us.
During the Section business meeting a number of programming options for
the next year were discussed. At the Basic Science Caucus, there was a
suggestion from Wayne Lambert (University of Louisville) that consideration
be given to doing a survey for the basic sciences, and that a project be
developed along those lines that could be submitted to the Project Pool for
funding. Our Section has agreed to be part of this process.
X.
Section Program Evaluation Summary
Our Section received full approval, without restrictions or suggestions, during
the last evaluation period. We also participated in the interim meeting in
Nashville late last year.
XI.
Feedback to the Administrative Board
None noted.
XII.
Attach all other relevant documents.
None noted.