9th Presidential Matters A Message from the President By Gary M. Scharoff, D.D.S. As this will be my final “A Message from the President”, I thought I would take this opportunity to reflect on this past year and all that “we” have been able to accomplish. As you know, membership is the life blood of any organization. When the year began, one of my objectives was to build on the momentum that our most recent Ninth District presidents had generated towards the effort of membership. We continue to stay focused on membership and recruitment. Our biggest challenge with membership today has been to counter the effect of Baby Boomers and soon Gen Xs as they transition to that next membership category “retired”. Through the tireless efforts of Drs. Renuka Bijoor and Amrita Patel and their respective committees, we have been hard at work recruiting new members from that next generational group, the Millennials. We continue to get positive feedback from both the participants and the sponsors with the highly successful Frills & Drills and New Dentist Events. As the saying goes “Slow but steady wins the race”, and I am happy to report that we are seeing positive results from these ongoing efforts. Also, I would like to congratulate both Dr. Bijoor and Dr. Patel as they have been recognized by NYSDA for their exemplary work, where they each chair similar councils. Through the Confer with Dental Schools Committee, with Chairman Dr. Jeffrey Stein and Vice Chairman, Dr. John Constantine we continue to work closely with the Touro College of Dental Medicine. TCDM continues to mature as a dental institution and they are now in the process of filling the Class of 2023 which when completed will bring the school up to full operating capacity of approximately 445 students. Through the New Dentist, Membership and Communications and the Mentoring committees we have opened what we hope to be a mutually beneficial relationship with the students at TCDM. Most recently I had 14 BULLETIN NINTH DISTRICT DENTAL ASSOCIATION the opportunity to speak with two students from Touro that were invited guests to a committee meeting. They expressed to me their appreciation of the efforts we are making to not only supplement their dental education but also show them the business side of practicing dentistry. As these students are the future of dentistry we hope that by giving them a taste of what organized dentistry can offer them that upon graduation they will join us. We have also participated in a number of joint ventures with TCDM, from the highly successful Give Kids A Smile event, special thanks to Dr. Renuka Bijoor and the Ninth District volunteers and the upcoming SMILES for Veterans event spearheaded by Dr. Carl Tegtmeier, being held at the TCDM. We are also looking into the idea of joint hands-on programs where we would be able utilize the facilities at the dental school – again we are in the discussion phases at this time. On November 18th at the TCDM Gala “Celebrating New Beginnings” being held at the Ritz Carlton in White Plains, the Ninth District will be presented with the COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP AWARD. Dr. Minerva Patel and I, will be accepting that award on behalf of the Ninth District. I recently returned from the ADA House of Delegates Meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii, along with fellow delegates, Drs. Paul Patella and Chris Tota and alternate delegates Drs. Mary Ellen Lukaswitz, Anthony Cuomo and Minerva Patel who also happened to Co-Chair one of the NYSDA caucus study groups. There were over 90 resolutions on the agenda to discuss and vote on. The delegates of the house are working very hard to protect our profession from the many outside influences that if left unchecked could negatively affect our profession and potentially the future of dentistry. I must congratulate our Ninth delegation, they did us all proud with their energy and commitment. While this was going on we were all spreading the good word in support