Dear Friends
“Facial Dysmorphia: A Global Solution” was the lofty theme assigned to me by the 2014 BAOMS President, Llanko Llankovan, for my address as his Presidential Lecturer. Llanko is an internationally recognized expert on this topic. I am not. Llanko also has a well-honed sense of humor, as he knew that my interests lay elsewhere. Far elsewhere.
As a Bovie-saw-and flap-em guy I had no idea where to start…
I called Ramon Ruiz
Ramon accurately predicted Mr. Llankovan’s desire for an outside-the-box presentation and he gave me some great pointers. The lecture proved to be a resounding success.
Nine years later, I still think of Ramon every time I look at the plaque on my wall that he made possible.
Present and future recipients of the Ramon Ruiz Traveling Scholarship may similarly reflect on their experience, as well as on the career opportunities that the Scholarship opened for them. In its 1st year, the Scholarship is already highly competitive. At $10,000, this stipend doubles the awards that I have found among the various scholarships available through the ACS and from ENT sources. This opens the door more widely to those outstanding potential candidates who are already saddled with considerable educational debt and who simply could not afford a partially funded experience that does not cover all, or almost all of the costs.
Already the RAMON RUIZ TRAVELING SCHOLARSHIP is a great success thanks to the generosity of many of you. We need to make it an even greater success by involving ALL of you. Please join me in taking the Scholarship to the NEXT LEVEL which will entail enlarging the corpus to make the Scholarship SELF-SUSTANING. A relatively painless way to do this is to pledge a monthly fixed withdrawal/donation over a period of several years – whatever you’re comfortable with. Melissa can set that up if you just give her a call at 770–271–0453.
A completely painless mechanism that would enable you to make a sizeable donation is to set up a Planned Gift in your Will. We plan to roll this out along with other options at the Halifax meeting.
Ramon’s widow, Laura, recently sent the following email to Hank Holderfield, the President of PAMI which is the firm that manages AACMFS:
Thank you, Hank for sending us an update on the fund for Ramon. Our children are so appreciative that you all started this scholarship so quickly and that the response is so strong. I have been supported by so many of Ramon’s colleagues and friends. I cannot begin to imagine going through this alone. Thank you all for helping us manage this insurmountable loss. Take care, Laura
You take care too, Laura. Your strength has been an inspiration to us all. Please be ever cognizant of the fact that the fund in Ramon’s name will ensure the immortality of his legacy.
Send a check to:
AACMFS Foundation
4850 Golden Parkway, Suite B-417
Buford, GA 30518
To pay by credit card you can click this link:
https://aacmfs.wildapricot.org/Donation
‘In Memoriam Of’ or ‘In Honor Of’ donations can be noted in the comment section of the donation form.
AACMFS Foundation is a 501 (c)3 organization. Tax ID 84-4131666.
Eric Dierks, MD, DMD, FACS, FACD, FRCS(Ed)
Chairman, AACMFS Foundation
eric.dierks@gmail.com 503.789.8614
The AACMFS Foundation is a 501c3 organization and all contributions are fully tax deductible.
