AOS MEMBERSHIP NEWS Continued Learning: AOS Expands Educational Opportunities & Looking For New Ways to Serve You Thank you for allowing me to serve as your AOS President this coming year. For those of you who do not know me, I am a general dentist in a two-doctor practice in Mount Hope, Kansas, a small community 15 miles northwest of Wichita. I graduated from the Creighton University School of Dentistry in 1980 and have been practicing orthodontics for over 35 years. I am an AOS Diplomate and have contributed regularly to this journal. I sold my practice to Katie Neidig, DDS, a fellow AOS member, in August 2018. I am semi-retired and still practice general dentistry and orthodontics. Needless to say, the Covid-19 pandemic that started in the United States in January has presented many challenges to the AOS, our practices, and our lives. The 2020 AOS Annual Meeting that was to be held in Atlanta was cancelled, our educational offerings were disrupted, and our finances were severely challenged. Under the excellent guidance of our executive director, Barbara Zuniga, our immediate past president Allan Rotberg, and the Board of Directors, a business plan was developed. This plan is a blueprint to allow the AOS to regain its footing fiscally and in areas in which we serve our members. This includes education, credentialling, mentoring, and networking. The AOS has many committees staffed by talented people. Like the Latin maxim, “divide et impera” (divide and conquer), I feel it is important to allow people who serve the AOS Randy Newby, DDS AOS President to maximize their talents and contributions. Let them work; stay out of their way. I will devote most of my efforts to the Education Committee (EdComm). As a young dentist years ago, I was attracted to the AOS because of the quality of the educational offerings. I was the beneficiary and was influenced by the many great educators in the AOS-among these are Drs. Wyatt, Gerety, White, and Carapezza. Due to the Covid-19 crisis and technologi-cal advances, we must adapt in the ways we deliver education. Along with the traditional in-person instructor-to-student model, we must explore live streaming, webinars, production of videos, and others. In-person teaching is invaluable. There is no substitute for hands-on instruction in learning skills such as appliance fabrication, adjustments, and wire bending. I would like our AOS members, be they beginning, intermediate, or advanced practitioners, to inform us what types of education they would like to have presented and by which platforms they would prefer. Also, I ask our advanced practitioners to start teaching and passing along knowledge via these modern platforms. Many challenges will present to the AOS in 2021. Hopefully, some semblance of normalcy will return to our lives and practices and we can all meet again at our Annual Meeting in Clearwater Beach, Florida in October 2021. Randy K. Newby D.D.S. www.orthodontics.com Fall 2020 41
Journal of the American Orthodontic Society Fall 2020: Page 41
