President Kohli, members of the Board, colleagues, and friends,

Thank you very much. I am deeply touched to receive the 2026 AAPHD President’s Award.

I want to express my sincere gratitude to President Kohli, the Board of Directors, and my colleagues in AAPHD for this recognition. It means a great deal to me, especially because it comes from an organization and a professional community that I have respected for so many years.

I also want to thank my family and close colleagues for their patience, encouragement, and for reminding me, even on the difficult days, why this work matters. Over the course of my career, I have had the privilege of working in many different settings: universities, public health agencies, professional organizations, and international communities. In all of these places, I have learned an important lesson: dental public health is, above all, about people. It is about improving lives, preventing suffering, expanding opportunity, and ensuring that oral health is recognized as an essential part of overall health.

I have also been fortunate to work with many remarkable mentors, colleagues, students, and friends. Whatever I may have contributed has never been the work of one person alone; it has always been part of a shared effort shaped by collaboration, encouragement, and common purpose.

At this especially challenging time for public health, I also want to thank AAPHD for its important work: advancing oral health equity, strengthening the public health workforce, and keeping the needs of communities at the center of what we do.

Receiving this award is both humbling and deeply meaningful to me. I accept it with heartfelt thanks, and with continued confidence in the future of dental public health and in the people who will carry this work forward. Thank you very much.