I bring you greetings from Ann Arbor and I am hopeful that all of you have survived a very long winter this year! I believe that there is much to be grateful for as we plan the coming year for the MSP. First, I am honored to serve the MSP as President and would like to acknowledge the leadership put forth by Dr. Jon Jenkins over this past year. He has helped bring about important progress for the Society during his years of service to the MSP over the years. I will do my best to keep up the spirit of contributions of Jon and our other officers. This past MSP meeting was well attended and one that was excellently organized by our program Chair and Research Forum Chairs, Drs. Rodrigo Neiva and Jason Cooke, respectively. Our 2008 program of having an array of speakers such as Mark Setter on practice management, Pam McClain on periodontal regeneration, and Terrence Griffin on soft tissue esthetics, provided a good variety of presentations for our broad membership. Further, we had a highly competitive graduate forum this year with many thanks to our Periodontal Program Directors in the Region. Our program for next year looks to continue to be of interest with our 2009 speakers of Drs. Marc Nevins, Dalton Keith, and Pat Allen. I am confident that they will not disappoint in sharing their knowledge. As we look towards this year and 2009, I would like to thank the membership and Executive Committee for their strong leadership support of a very important initiative to our profession: the Education Action Campaign for the AAP. As many of you know, the MSP has contributed significantly to the efforts of the campaign, and has served as an example to encourage other societies to give to this important effort. In particular, John Kobs, Vice-Chair for the AAP Foundation Ambassador’s Program has been supportive of our efforts. John has become a recent addition to the AAP Foundation Board, as well as Vanchit John. Thus, our District is representing the Foundation Board well! Below, I provide you with information with thanks to Dr. Sharon Mellor for our membership on how each one of us can support the AAPF and how this support is crucial to all members of the MSP! Short history of the AAPF supporting our specialty, including the MSP region: The AAP Foundation has a proven record of success in supporting the periodontal specialty. By 2000 the AAPF Foundation has raised more than $12 million in gifts and pledge commitments and is providing more than $525,000 annually to the periodontal community via scholarships, fellowships and grants. The Foundation keeps the specialty strong by offering an award portfolio that includes: • Fellowships to reward and encourage outstanding young educators • Fellowships to support advanced training • Fellowships to encourage entry into academic careers • Awards to encourage periodontal research • Grants to bring outstanding periodontal lecturers to the entire dental professional team • Scholarships to encourage postdoctoral achievement Current Focus on Keeping the MSP Periodontist in Periodontology! More than half of all periodontal educators are older than 50 and one in five is older than 60. Their potential replacements are burdened by staggering educational debt and are increasingly opting for private practice. With few joining the ranks of academia, the specialty could lose half of its educator workforce in the next 10 to 15 years. When that happens, who will educate general dentists about periodontology in the classroom? Who will perform the research that places periodontology at the forefront of oral health breakthroughs? Who will reinforce the scientific foundations of the specialty and impart them to students? And how does the specialty ensure a sufficient pool of periodontists to take over your practice when you are ready to retire? With generous support from the AAP, the Foundation has taken up the challenge of bolstering the pipeline of educators. New initiatives include scholarships for students who must fulfill a teaching requirement, debt-relief fellowships for young periodontal educators to enable them to remain in academia, and fellowships to provide training to mature practitioners who wish to transition from private practice to full- or part-time teaching. These programs are an important step in making academia an attractive and viable career path for periodontology’s best and brightest. Our goal is to ensure that our training institutions attract and retain the most gifted academicians so that future generations of periodontists may learn from and be inspired by them. Why as an MSP Periodontist, your Support is Necessary Virtually all of the donations received by the Foundation are donor-restricted to existing scholarship and fellowship programs. The Foundation does not have unrestricted funds that may be used to address emerging issues. In recognition of this fact, 110 of your colleagues have identified themselves as Foundation Ambassadors and have volunteered to raise funds for the Education Action Campaign. When an Ambassador contacts you about the campaign, please consider that the future of the specialty is in your hands. This is the time for action. The specialty has a very narrow window of opportunity to create a pool of talented educators who can fill the gaps created by retirement and declining interest in academic careers. Currently, 42% of U.S. periodontists are donors to the AAP Foundation. In order to secure and promote the specialty’s future, our goal is to increase the percentage of periodontists who are regular investors in the Foundation. We welcome annual gifts, two- and five-year pledges, and bequests and other planned gifts. You may make your gift in honor of, or in memory of, a mentor or other special person in your life. The AAP Foundation is the only philanthropic organization created to preserve and promote your specialty. We thank you for your ongoing support. For more information about the AAP Foundation’s case for support, you may visit the web site www.perio.org/eap. There you will find the full case as well as the opportunity to give on line. Or you may contact me by phone (800) 282-4867, ext. 3256 or by e-mail sharon@perio.org Please continue to correspond and support of our leaders in the MSP with dedicated roles in the AAP. We thank our district 4 representatives Greg Fauth, Bill Sorensen and Nancy Newhouse. From our recent District 4 Forum you will note the important leading efforts this group has done for our district and our specialty. I also urge you to support one of our own: Dr. Nancy Newhouse who is a candidate for Secretary of the AAP. Her track record of leadership in our district would bode well for the Academy! If you have any issues or matters regarding ways I can better help advance the MSP, please do not hesitate to contact me (wgiannob@umich.edu) our one of our other officers. Talk to you later this summer! Will Giannobile President, MSP