Representing ADEE at ADEA 2022
From March 19th to 22nd Prof Paganelli (Chair of the FEHDD and board of IFDEA) and myself travelled to Philadelphia, USA to attend the American Dental Education Association’s annual conference ‘Lifting as we rise’. While we attended as a much smaller delegated than recent years it was delightful to have the opportunity to meet our American dental education colleagues face to face for the first time since March 2019. As always ADEA did not fail to deliver and over 3000 attended the meeting.
From the outset the tone of change and flux was set by the opening plenary session of Linda Bernardi Former IBM Chief Innovation Officer who presented ‘How Disruption Reshapes Health Care’, artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain and the resulting technological shifts are turning health care on its head. Ms Bernardi shared her views on the influences of a diverse array of topics including intelligent robotics, personalized medicine and compliance monitoring to immersion technology, predictive monitoring and IoT (Internet of Things)-enabled services, and how they are shaping and will continue to turn traditional healthcare systems on their head.
Prof Paganelli and I attended an array of sessions of interest to ADEE strategically, and of course which were of interest to us individually. These included session on interprofessional education and advances on simulation practice for easing the transition to clinical practice.
Of course, a key element of ADEA is the opportunity to network with transatlantic colleagues. All seemed grateful to at last, be able to network face to face rather than online. We were also able to spend time with ADEA leadership to discuss shared opportunities and of course to invite our American colleagues to join us in Palma this August for our annual conference.
We offered ADEE congratulations to Prof Nader A. Nadershahi on his appointment as Chair of the ADEA Board and of course Prof Keith A. Mays who held the role in the previous term.
We also had an opportunity to connect with long term ADEE attendee Prof Ana N. López-Fuentes on her appointment as chair elect of board of ADEA. Ana tell sus she is very much looking for to renewing here friendships with European colleagues in Palma.
While there are of course many differences between ADEA and ADEE mainly due to the way dental education is organised between the two continents, what is reassuring is that both are very much focused on their membership and enabling us to practice as effectively as we can as dental educators. The world as a whole has been challenged by COVID, however what did come out in all our discussions was the concept that no matter where you are the world is changing and in many instances dramatically. To paraphrase the words of the closing plenary session by Dr Amelia Nagoski, TED presenter and musical conductor, we need to ensure that we manage our stressor’s and respond collectively so to enable a better future.
We look forward to continuing the conversations in Palma 24th -26th August 2022.
