What follows is a guest editorial by Dr. Arthur A. Dugoni, president of the ADA Foundation, where a national campaign for dental education is being developed. Dr. Dugoni, a past ADA president and the long-time dean of the dental school at the University of the Pacific, offers a progress report on the campaign.
Let me take you back to 1987. With skyrocketing dental education costs, unfilled faculty vacancies, a lack of diversity among faculty and students, increasing student debt and the deterioration of facilities, I got a glimpse of an iceberg and proposed a 25-year plan to create a $1 billion endowment fund to support dental education, research and scholarship. The dental profession thought I had lost my mind, and many exclaimed, "Art Dugoni has gone mad!" This so-called crazy idea did not fly.
Now fast forward to 2005. The ADA Foundation, along with other dental education stakeholders, is laying the groundwork for and preparing to carry out a major fundraising campaign to secure the future of dental education. The goal is to work together to raise $250 million over a 12-year period, the first critical step toward the ultimate goal of $1 billion. In this initial phase, the ADA Foundation plans to raise $100 million. Then, thanks to synergistic efforts with additional partners—dental schools, specialty groups and other organizations—another $150 million will be raised.
Timing is everything, and now is the time to create the future!
The challenges facing dental education are extremely urgent and compelling, and as members of a learned profession, we have a duty to act now to prevent this situation from becoming more severe. At risk is the excellence of the world’s greatest system of dental education, to say nothing of the oral health of the public we serve.
A national campaign for dental education is expected to launch in the fall of 2007. In the meantime, there is much work to do to ensure its success.
A national campaign for dental education is expected to launch in the fall of 2007. In the meantime, there is much work to do to ensure its success. Helping us design this unique umbrella approach to fundraising is past ADA President Gregory A. Chadwick. Dr. Chadwick is working with a diverse and talented task force representing every segment of organized dentistry.
This task force already is at work to determine how best to make an impact on the future of dental education, as well as to develop the practical aspects of this campaign, such as its organizational structure, policies and procedures and so on. The work of this task force will continue for a year.
In the coming months, you will hear more about this exciting and unprecedented campaign. A collaborative fundraising campaign of this magnitude will provide the financial resources to support our dental education institutions for the next generation of dentists and for the continued improvement in the oral health of the American public.
To secure the future of dental education—the cornerstone of our profession—we have begun the bold new work of moving mountains, one grain of sand at a time. Our goal is ambitious. It will require much hard work; however, the rewards will be great.
This campaign will require the dedication and determination of the entire dental profession. It is our expectation that every dentist and many friends of dentistry in America will provide the most thoughtful and generous contribution they have ever made. It is time for us to give back to the foundation of the profession that has given so much to us.
The challenges that existed 15 years ago, when I first proposed the creation of this fund, still exist. The only difference is that they have become more severe. Working together, we will build a stronger dental education system, one that will strengthen our universities, advance the work of dental researchers, reduce student debt, enhance private practice models and improve the oral care of the public we are so privileged to serve.
Together, we will move mountains.
