Dr. Geraldine Morrow
by Dr. Mary Licking
Dr. Geraldine Morrow died March 20th at the age of 86 and as a resident of Wasilla, Alaska.1 While Dr. Morrow accumulated many accolades during her long career as a dentist, including service to the American Dental Association in 1991-1992 as its first female president, the American Association of Women Dentists has its own memories from her years as a member of the organization. Despite the barriers that her residing in Alaska posed in getting to AAWD meetings in the lower 48 states, she and AAWD found ways to communicate.
In 1985, Dr. Morrow was the third recipient (preceded by the first recipient, the late Dr. Jane Selbe, and by Dr. Marie Nylen) of AAWD’s highest honor, the Lucy Hobbs Taylor award.
In 1990, in the campaign that would take her to presidency of the ADA, AAWD members who were savvy in the ways of downtown Boston answered her call to help at the ADA convention being held in the city that year. Dr. Morrow acknowledged the campaign support she received from AAWD by mentioning the organization by name during an interview published on youtube.com in 2015. 2 In that interview she noted that AAWD itself had no vote in the ADA election process. However, she remembers AAWD’s support fondly and in talking about it, quoted June Warren Lee [the late Dr. Lee was an AAWD past president and a Lucy Hobbs Taylor recipient]. Dr. Lee had indicated to Dr. Morrow that a valuable outcome of Dr. Morrow’s candidacy and term was inspiration to those dentists who desired to participate in organized dentistry on their own terms. The corporate model of having a life’s goal of doing whatever is necessary to defeat opponents aspiring to the top of an organization became passé with Dr. Morrow’s example. Dr. Morrow tended to view the promotion of the idea that there was a place in organized dentistry for dentists who wanted to put boundaries on their time and energies toward the cause of organized dentistry as worthy of her efforts. Dr. Morrow’s campaign was fueled by her passion for keeping dentistry in the private sector and having the middleman being kept at bay. In the late 1980s and early 1990s there was a view gaining prevalence that the government had the ability to run healthcare in the United States. Dr. Morrow viewed the idea of a government takeover of dentistry as being incompatible with professionalism. Prior to her campaign, Dr. Morrow had achieved notable accomplishments in Alaska keeping dentistry as a private sector endeavor. Dr. Morrow credits the ability to join together with other members of organized dentistry in working toward common goals as key to those accomplishments.
In the early 2000’s, Dr. Morrow contributed to an Annual Meeting program that was held in Chicago by a taped presentation designed for the AAWD meeting audience.
1accessed April 10, 2017: http://www.ada.org/en/publications/ada-news/2017-archive/first-ada-female-president-dies-at-86published March 22, 2017.
2accessed April 10, 2017: www.youtube.com, “RL509 No 38 Geraldine Morrow” on the account of UMichDent, published August 26, 2015.
AAWD at the University of California San Francisco had an exciting fall quarter! The chapter kicked off the quarter by attending the annual AAWD session in Washington, DC. President, Lili Szabo and Vice president, Brittany Vacura spent three days in Washington, DC. attending the AAWD student session, several CE courses and exploring the city. The board members had a great time networking with other students and AAWD members and getting to learn from other student chapters across the country.
Donna is the Chief Performance Officer (CPO) and Convention Services Director of International Association Management. Donna’s expert knowledge, experience with medical manufacturers and universities, and skills as a recognized leader make her an ideal choice to implement strategic initiatives and bring more value to our organization. She is a Certified Meeting Planner (CMP) with experience in management, hotel contract negotiation, financial management, on-site event coordination, continuing medical education, site selection, sponsorship, enduring materials, web design and travel.
The OAWD met Friday evening, January 15, 2016, at the home of Dr. Sara Spurlock for their Annual Winter Party. The meeting was well attended, especially by students from the University of Oklahoma College of Dentistry.
Happy New Year to all my friends and colleagues in dentistry. I hope you enjoyed your family and friends during our recent holiday time. I know I did. Some of you are probably feeling completely exhausted by all the activities and preparations for your family and office while others are feeling refreshed and ready to start a new year with all the excitement it holds. No matter what group you fall into, there is something stimulating and renewing about the beginning of a new year. We get to start over! A clean slate! Throw away those To Do Lists and begin others. Open a new calendar and vow to be organized this year. You are not alone. Your American Association of Women Dentists is doing the same thing!
On December 3rd, 2015 the Medical University of South Carolina’s chapter of AAWD hosted a Paint it Forward event to support Smiles for Success and the North Charleston Free Dental clinic, our local philanthropy. Members from the chapter were lead by an artist to paint a portrait of Rainbow Row, an historic landmark in Charleston.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
