ADA 2012: Dr. Albert H. Guay given Distinguished Service Award

American Dental Association (ADA) President Dr. William R. Calnon presented Dr. Albert H. Guay with the 2012 ADA Distinguished Service Award Friday, Oct. 19, during the ADA’s 153rd Annual Session and World Marketplace in San Francisco’s Moscone Convention Center. Dr. Guay is the ADA’s chief policy advisor emeritus and an ADA member for more than 50 years. The Distinguished Service Award is the highest honor conferred by the ADA Board of Trustees on an individual.

Dr. Guay earned his dental degree from Boston’s Tufts University School of Dental Medicine in 1960, the same year he joined the ADA. He earned a certificate of training in orthodontics from the Eastman Dental Center in 1966. While practicing orthodontics, Dr. Guay also taught part time at Tufts, Emerson College and the Boston University School of Medicine. Dr. Guay achieved the rank of captain in the Army Dental Corps and was awarded the U.S. Army Commendation Medal prior to practicing orthodontia in the Boston area for 26 years.

Dr. Guay served the Massachusetts Dental Society as vice president and is a past ADA trustee, having represented the First Trustee District (New England) in 1991-92 before joining the ADA staff as director of the Council on Dental Practice. Dr. Guay went on to serve as assistant and then associate executive director for the ADA Division of Dental Practice and Professional Affairs. He served the ADA as chief policy advisor from 2001 until his retirement in 2011.

Dr. Guay has earned numerous honors throughout his career, including the University of Rochester Medical Center Distinguished Alumni Award in 2007 and the American College of Dentists New England Section Service Award in 2002. His deep knowledge of the dental profession includes practice management issues, the dental marketplace, insurance industry practices, Medicare and Medicaid and other government programs and regulations, quality assurance, access to care, evidence-based dentistry and much more. His dedication and contributions to organized dentistry make him a natural for the ADA Distinguished Service Award.

The ADA Annual Session, which is being held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco Oct. 18-21, brings together leaders in dental practice, research, academia and industry to present hundreds of continuing education courses over four days. In addition, the session will feature more than 600 exhibiting companies.  The annual session is expected to draw more than 30,000 dental professionals to the city.

For more coverage of the ADA 153rd Annual Session click here.