WASHINGTON, Jan. 6 (AScribe Newswire) -- The ADEAGies Foundation is pleased to announce the winners of the 2009 William J. Gies Awards for Vision, Innovation, and Achievement. The Gies Awards, named after dental education pioneer William J. Gies, Ph.D., honor individuals and organizations exemplifying dedication to the highest standards of vision, innovation, and achievement in global oral health and dental education, research, and leadership.

The Gies Awards will be presented at a highly anticipated celebration in conjunction with the ADEA Annual Session and Exhibition. The 86th ADEA Annual Session and Exhibition will be held March 14-18, 2009, in Phoenix, Arizona; the Gies Awards will be conferred on March 14, 2009. The sponsorship by Johnson & Johnson Healthcare Products, Division of McNEIL-PPC, Inc., and OraPharma, Inc., of the 2009 Gies Awards program is part of the companies' overall support of ADEAGies Foundation initiatives for advancing excellence in dental education in the nation's dental schools.

The 2009 honorees were selected by a distinguished panel of judges consisting of the ADEAGies Foundation Board of Trustees. The winners in alphabetical order are:

- American Academy of Pediatrics

Outstanding Vision - Public or Private Partner

- Case Western Reserve University School of Dental Medicine

Outstanding Innovation - Academic Dental Institution

- Columbia University College of Dental Medicine

Outstanding Vision - Academic Dental Institution

- Dominick P. DePaola, D.D.S., Ph.D.

Outstanding Achievement - Dental Educator

- Arthur A. Dugoni, D.D.S., M.S.D.

Outstanding Achievement - Dental Educator

- The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Outstanding Innovation - Public or Private Partner

- Judith Ann Jones, D.D.S., M.P.H., D.Sc.D., Boston University Goldman School of Dental Medicine

Outstanding Innovation - Dental Educator

- University at Buffalo Ph.D. Program in Oral Biology

Outstanding Achievement - Academic Dental Institution

- University of Puerto Rico School of Dentistry

Outstanding Achievement - Academic Dental Institution

We are proud to honor these remarkable individuals and institutions, whose commitment to dental education and research mirrors that of William J. Gies, said Richard W. Valachovic, D.M.D., M.P.H., President of the ADEAGies Foundation and Executive Director of the American Dental Education Association (ADEA). They offer powerful examples of how dedication can significantly advance global oral health.

The Gies Awards are presented by the ADEAGies Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the American Dental Education Association. For more than 50 years, the ADEAGies Foundation has enhanced the oral health of the public through programs that support dental education, research, leadership, and recognition.

Tickets for the celebration are $125 and can be purchased online at http://www.adea.org. Sponsored tables are available. For more information, please contact Julia Cockren at 703-506-3260.

About The William J. Gies Foundation: The William J. Gies (pronounced guys) Foundation was established in 1950 by colleagues and admirers of Dr. Gies with seed funds raised by the American College of Dentists. It was a private foundation and the first U.S. foundation to support dental education and scholarship. In 2002, it joined with the American Dental Education Association (ADEA) to form ADEAGies Foundation, a public foundation.

About William J. Gies and the Gies Report: William Gies was a Columbia University biochemistry professor and founder of the College of Dental Medicine at Columbia University where he was interested in dental education, science, and clinical applications. In 1926, as part of a series of studies on U.S. professional education funded by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Dr. Gies published a landmark report that established the importance of dentistry as a healing science and an essential component of higher education in the health professions. The Gies Report, Dental Education in the United States and Canada, took five years to research and write. It consists of 250 pages of text and more than 400 pages of appendices, including lengthy descriptions and evaluations of the existing dental schools, each of which Dr. Gies visited. Since the Gies Report, there have been many other reports on dental education in the context of health professions education. However, Dental Education in the United States and Canada remains to this day the most relevant survey of dental education and critical issues within the field.

About ADEA: The American Dental Education Association (ADEA) is the voice of dental education. Its members include all U.S. and Canadian dental schools and many allied and postdoctoral dental education programs, corporations, faculty, and students. The mission of ADEA is to lead individuals and institutions of the dental education community to address contemporary issues influencing education, research, and the delivery of oral health care for the health of the public. ADEA's activities encompass a wide range of research, advocacy, faculty development, meetings, and communications like the esteemed Journal of Dental Education, as well as the dental school admissions services AADSAS and PASS.

CONTACT: Merideth Menken, ADEA Publications & Communications, menkenm@adea.org, 202-289-7201