The annual PFA Awards Banquet is the highlight of the PFA year as well as the Board Meeting Sessions. This year the luncheon banquet will be held on Saturday, 18 October 2008 at Grand Hyatt Hotel, Texas Ballroom, 11:30 A.M. to about 2 P.M. This year, the selection for the PFA Gold Medal is Dr. Marjorie Jeffcoat, Dean for the University of Pennsylvania.
The Dental Trade & Industry Award will be presented to Mr. Saul Brietman of Argentina, President of Bernabo Laboratories. Honorary Fellowship will be bestowed upon Dr. Jurgen Weitkamp of Germany. The Elmer S. Best Memorial Award was conferred upon Dr. Carlo P. Marinello of Switzerland last July in a ceremony in Zurich.
Dr. Marjorie Jeffcoat
Dr. Marjorie K. Jeffcoat
Dr. Marjorie K. Jeffcoat is the Morton Amsterdam Dean and Professor of Periodontics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine. She also serves as the school's eleventh Dean and the first woman Dean in its 128-year history.
Prior to her appointment with Penn Dental in July 2003, Dr. Jeffcoat served as Assistant Dean of Research and Professor and Chair of the Department of Periodontics at the University of Alabama at the Birmingham School of Dentistry. While at Alabama, she was also a Professor of Biomedical Engineering, held the James Rosen Endowed Chair of Dental Research, and served as Interim Chair for the Department of Oral Biology.
She is a 1976 graduate of the Harvard School of Dental Medicine and taught periodontology there for 10 years.
Dr. Jeffcoat was elected to the Institute of Medicine in October 2005 and is currently a member of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) Advisory Committee for Research on Women's Health, the National Institutes for Dental Research National Advisory Committee, the American Academy of Periodontology Clinical Trials Committee, the Academy of Osseointegration Board of Directors, and the International Association for Dental Research Board of Directors. She has served as President of the Academy of Osseointegration, the American Association for Dental Research, and the International Association for Dental Research. Dr. Jeffcoat also serves on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Periodontology, the Current Opinion in Dentistry, and the Journal of Periodontal Research. From 2001 to 2004, she was Editor of the Journal of the American Dental Association. She is a Member of the Board of Governors for the Philadelphia Dental Association. Dr. Jeffcoat received the Pennsylvania Recognition Award in 2008.
Her recent work has included studies on the relationship between preterm birth and periodontal disease; and between osteoporosis and periodontal disease progression.