President’s Message  

As I am writing this, the summer is coming to an end and the beginning of the fall sports season is already well underway.  It’s hard to believe that our symposium in Toronto was two months ago.  I’d like to thank Jan Chithalen and his organizing committee for making the Toronto symposium such a success.  Thanks also goes to Steve Mills and the Continuing Education committee for making sure the symposium delivers material that is educational and beneficial to us all in our daily practices.

I had the pleasure of representing the ASD at the Joint Commission on Sports Medicine and Science (JCSMS) meeting earlier this year.  At the meeting former Surgeon General Boris Lushniak spoke on creating and organizing action plans and how organizations can work together to have a collective impact in their field.  To this end I have tasked the ASD Board with re-affirming and strengthening our existing affiliations such as with NATA.  

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To all my friends and colleagues in the ASD-  

In my last message I mentioned that with all the uncertainty in the world and the sometimes-hourly change of information, the annual symposium committee was working very hard to do what was in the best interests of the ASD and its members.  The health and safety of our members has been at the top of our priority list from the beginning and, as such, we feel that rescheduling the Annual Symposium is the best solution given the current health crisis.

We have successfully negotiated with the venue to move the Nashville Symposium to June of 2022 without penalty to the ASD.  The decision to not do an in-person symposium in 2020 was made with a heavy heart, but it is truly the best decision under the circumstances. I would like to thank Jan Aument for her tireless efforts in working with the hotel on rescheduling the symposium. Further thanks need to go to Walter Chitwood and his Nashville Organizing Committee for all their hard work and difficult decisions over the last few weeks.  

By moving the Nashville Symposium to 2022, this allows the work that has already begun by Dave Dowsett and his team on the 2021 Symposium in Portland, Oregon, to continue as planned and not be interrupted as well.

This decision is just the first of many important decisions that the board will be making in the next few weeks.  We will endeavor to keep you all informed on a regular basis and work hard to develop alternatives to the Symposium and the annual business meeting that would have occurred in June.  

In the meantime, please continue to stay in touch with each other.  Please post to the ASD Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts with how you are managing this crisis or just to provide some much-needed humor or distractions.  One group on Facebook that may be of interest to you is Dentists Against Coronavirus. This group provides a nice combination of science and facts, updated information from national and local organizations, members experiences with managing this current crisis, and a nice dose of humor and distraction thrown in as well.  

As I said in my last message, I look forward to the time we can all meet in person again.  Until then stay safe and keep in touch.

Your Friend,  

Jeffrey Laubmeier