ST. LOUIS (May 3, 2016) — The American Association of Orthodontists (AAO) elected officers for 2016-17 and installed a new member of the Board of Trustees at its 116th Annual Session, held recently in Orlando. The AAO is the world’s oldest and largest dental specialty organization with more than 18,000 members.

DeWayne B. McCamish, DDS, MS, an orthodontist with offices in Chattanooga, Signal Mountain, and Ooltewah, Tennessee, has been elected president of the AAO.  Dr. McCamish is a past president of the Southern Association of Orthodontists (SAO), the Tennessee Association of Orthodontists (TAO), the Chattanooga Area Dental Society, and the University of Tennessee Orthodontic Alumni Association.  His AAO volunteer service includes eight years on the AAO Council on Orthodontic Practice (COOP), with two of those years as COOP chair.  Dr. McCamish is a Diplomate of The American Board of Orthodontics, a member of the College of Diplomates of The American Board of Orthodontics and a Fellow of both the American College of Dentists and the International College of Dentists. 

“Following our Code of Ethics, the members of the AAO are dedicated to providing excellence in patient care, as are our colleagues throughout dentistry and healthcare, as a whole,” said Dr. McCamish.  “The members of the AAO will always continue to work cooperatively to advance dental education and research, and to be an advocate for dentistry and patients at all levels.”

Nahid Maleki, DDS, MS, an orthodontist practicing in Washington, D.C., has been elected the president-elect.  Dr. Maleki is a past president of the District of Columbia Society of Orthodontists, and has held several leadership positions with the Middle Atlantic Society of Orthodontists (MASO), including its presidency, and serving as a MASO delegate to the AAO House of Delegates for 12 years.  She was the organization’s representative on the AAO Political Action Committee Board of Directors, and represented MASO on the AAO Council on Governmental (COGA) affairs for eight years, serving the last year as the COGA chair. 

Brent E. Larson, DDS, MS, of Minneapolis, Minnesota, has been elected the AAO secretary-treasurer.  Dr. Larson is the Director of the Division of Orthodontics and associate professor of orthodontics at the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry, and has a private orthodontic practice in Rochester, Minnesota.  Dr. Larson is a past president of the Midwestern Society of Orthodontists and of the Minnesota Association of Orthodontists.  In addition, he is a past chairman of the AAO Council on Information Technology, the AAO Task Force on Orthodontic Faculty Recruitment and Retention, and the AAO Council on Orthodontic Education.  Dr. Larson has served as the educational liaison to the editorial board of the American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics, and spent 15 years as a reviewer and synopsis writer for Practical Reviews in Orthodontics, a monthly literature review publication distributed around the world. 

Steven Siegel, DMD, an orthodontist with offices in Glen Burnie and Reisterstown, Maryland, has been elected by the Middle Atlantic Society of Orthodontists (MASO) as its trustee on the AAO Board of Trustees.  MASO serves orthodontists practicing in Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania (east of the Alleghenies), Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.  Dr. Siegel was formally installed as MASO trustee at the recent AAO Annual Session.

In addition to Drs. McCamish, Maleki, Larson and Siegel, members of the 2016-17 AAO Board of Trustees are:  

·      Gary O. Inman, DMD, Elizabethtown, Kentucky, Southern Association of Orthodontists

·      Christopher A. Roberts, DDS, MS, Findlay, Ohio,Great Lakes Association of Orthodontists

·      J. Kendall Dillehay, DDS, MSD, Wichita, Kansas, Southwestern Society of Orthodontists

·      Norman J. Nagel, DDS, MS, Simi Valley, California, Pacific Coast Society of Orthodontists

·      Myron D. Guymon, DDS, MS, Logan, Utah, Rocky Mountain Society of Orthodontists

·      John D. Callahan, DDS, MS, Fayetteville, New York, Northeastern Society of Orthodontists

·      Rolf G. Behrents, DDS, MS, PhD, St. Louis, Missouri, Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics

·      Michael J. Foy, DDS, MS of Colorado Springs, Colorado, Speaker of the AAO House of Delegates

·      Chris P. Vranas, CAE, St. Louis, Missouri,Executive Director of the AAO