News

What better way of encouraging the continued development of our specialty than to promote international collaborative training experiences for our younger members? The Dr. Ramon L. Ruiz Traveling Scholars Award, sponsored by AACMFS, has already provided an opportunity to Dr. Karen Carver, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Faculty and now Residency Program Director at the University of Michigan, to expand her horizon in Craniomaxillofacial Surgery by helping to fund a visit to the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, Australia. Dr. Carver has already presented a summary of her experience at last year’s annual meeting in Halifax.

As past President, Dr. Sean Edwards, mentioned in his letter to the membership, these traveling scholars’ experiences are life changing and enhance the professional growth and development of the recipient of these awards and our specialty. A major purpose of AACMFS is to promote education and as Dr. Carver will attest, this experience has given her a broad perspective of craniomaxillofacial surgery specific to her professional goals.

What better way is there to memorialize an icon of American craniomaxillofacial surgery, Dr. Ramon L. Ruiz, than to name this program in his honor? Dr. Ruiz was a founding member and tenth president of this organization. He was one of the first formally trained craniomaxillofacial surgeons in our specialty and was passionate about the benefits of fellowship training followed by a period of traveling to other centers for the broadening experience. Because of Dr. Ruiz’s persistence and passion for pediatric craniomaxillofacial surgeons, the American Board of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery now recognizes craniomaxillofacial surgery as a specialty within our scope of practice. Dr. Ruiz’s efforts lead to the development of the fellowship MATCH program that is sponsored by AACMFS. During his short career, he developed a Center of Excellence in Pediatric Craniomaxillofacial Surgery at the Arnold Palmer Children’s Hospital in Orlando, Florida, trained more than a dozen pediatric craniomaxillofacial surgery fellows and influenced the careers of countless professional colleagues, oral and maxillofacial surgery residents, dental students, and medical students.

My predecessor as President of AACMFS Foundation, Dr. Eric Derks, who was enormously successful in establishing the Foundation, used quotes from the wise American statesman, Benjamin Franklin, in his letters to the membership defining the needs of the Foundation. Continuing in this tradition, I offer these words of Franklin “A penny saved is a penny earned,” to stress the importance of funding a foundation and to utilize the principle of compounding interest to preserve the fund balance. The goal of the Foundation is to make the Dr. Ramon L. Ruiz Traveling Scholars Program self-sustaining through continuous contributions and the compounding of interest. Currently our Foundation requires $10,000 annually to fund a single Traveling Scholars Award. To be self-sustaining for this award, the Foundation requires $250,000 in principal. Currently our balance is $180,000, meaning that we still must raise $70,000 to meet the goal of self-sustainability.

Mrs. Laura C. Ruiz will be attending the annual meeting in Baltimore to present the Dr. Ramon L. Ruiz Traveling Scholars Award to the recipient of this year’s award. To date, there are 6 applicants for this award which demonstrates eagerness amongst our young members and a need for the award. Please consider a donation to this worthy cause. All gifts are completely tax free, and the cause is worthy.

Timothy A. Turvey, DDS, FACS
Chair, AACMFS Foundation

Hello AACMFS Fellows,

We would like to announce there has been a good deal of momentum surrounding the formation of an Advanced Practice Professional (APP) development committee and pathway to membership within AACMFS.

We are optimistic that this will provided a wonderful opportunity to APP members of our patient care teams and provide a home for both networking and education.

Objectives:

• Consistent with the mission and values of the American Academy of Craniomaxillofacial Surgeons, help to advance the knowledge of APP colleagues who work on our inpatient, OR, and outpatient teams.
• Promote a feeling of belonging within the specialty of craniomaxillofacial surgery
• Mentor new APP’s entering the field
• Optimize retention of these individuals in the long term to improve patient care and surgical outcomes
• Improve awareness amongst our members of APP’s and their valuable role in craniomaxillofacial surgery and the community

Membership for APPs will be as Associate Members. As a Fellow of the AACMFS you must first send a nomination for your APP to Melissa Connor. Please include their name, email address and the word ‘Associate.’ Melissa will send them your nomination and link to the application. Dues for Associate Fellows are $350 annually. You may nominate more than one APP colleague.

We encourage our new APP members to attend the 2025 Annual Conference in Baltimore, MD. Registration for the Annual Conference for Associates is $350, so the initial outlay for our associate members’s application and Annual Conference registration is $700.

Our current cohort of founding APP members will host an inaugural breakfast & networking event on Thursday, May 1. It’s our hope that this year’s event will inform content for similar events moving forward. We would hope APPs would enjoy the remainder of the scheduled scientific/educational program at the conference. Please see the full conference information at: https://aacmfs.net/2025-annual-scientific-meeting. We encourage those interested to arrange travel before March 30.

Your APP team member will not be able to register for the Annual Meeting until the nomination and membership application has been processed.

To nominate your APP team member please send their name and email address to Melissa Connor at mconnor@pami.org.

Many thanks to the executive board, past and current presidents for the overwhelming support in this new venture. It is the courage to think with open mindedness such as this that cultivates beautiful beginnings.

John Caccamese, DMD, MD
President, AACMFS

Amber Stritt, Inpatient PNP
Michigan Medicine, Ann Arbor, MI
APP Development Committee
arafko@med.umich.edu

David Stern
NBA Commissioner 1984 – 2014

“one and done”

The origin of the term “one and done” is unclear but it may have arisen among the myriad conversations of David Stern, the NBA Commissioner from 1984 to 2014. “One and done” refers to the controversial rule which Stern introduced in 2006 that required recruits spend at least one year playing college basketball, or overseas, before achieving eligibility to enter the NBA draft. Prior to that, top recruits could enroll in the NBA draft directly out of high school. Since 2006, the meaning of “one and done” has expanded to describe tournament performance, i.e. losing out on the first round, as well as other non-athletic applications. Nowadays, the term is used to describe everything from disposable tissues to an option for family planning.

“One and done” can also describe the monolithic donation pattern of some of our wonderful donors who have previously contributed – maybe several years ago – but not since. Please remember that the AACMFS is and will always be a small organization. If we are to achieve our lofty goal of fully funding the Ramon Ruiz Traveling Scholarship we need the involvement of the entire membership on an ongoing basis. When you make your donation via https://aacmfsf.wildapricot.org/Login please consider the monthly automatic withdrawal pledge option which is easy on the budget yet makes a significant impact on our fund.

Thanks in advance for your donation and I look forward to seeing you in Halifax!

Donation by credit card or monthly pledge: https://aacmfs.net/foundation

Send Checks to:
AACMFS Foundation
4850 Golden Parkway, Suite B-417
Buford, GA 30518

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.

Dear AACMFS MEMBER

Examine the cover of the latest Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons publication (January, 2023) and you will observe the AACMFS logo just below the AAOMS logo, and above the logo of the CAOMS. Look closer and you will see that the JOMS lists AACMFS among the organizations that consider them to be their official Journal. AAOMS president, Dr. Paul Schwartz lists the benefits of this association in the January 2023 newsletter that is in your email.

This recognition is a wonderful compliment to AACMFS and its members. We are a small, but very meaningful group. Congratulations to all, especially to Past President Dr. Rui Fernandez and Executive Director Dr. Brent Ward for their assistance in making this happen. The Journal has agreed to electronically publish the abstracts of our annual meeting and has invited us to contribute formal manuscripts and to be represented at their Editorial Board meetings.

I look forward to greeting you in Chapel Hill April 13-16 for the annual meeting. Remember that abstracts are due Friday, January 20, 2023.

Happy New Year and Best Wishes.

Tim

“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest”. — Benjamin Franklin

The AACMFS has created a 501(3) (c) charitable foundation that will enable the Academy to receive tax-deductible donations that will provide financial support for appropriate educational undertakings. The Chair of this Foundation is Dr. Eric Dierks. The first undertaking of the Foundation will be to develop a traveling scholar program that will provide financial support to one US or Canadian oral and maxillofacial surgeon each year. The grant will assist the recipient in traveling to another country for a 4 to 6 week period to interface with a local surgeon or surgeons to enhance the recipient’s fund of knowledge and expand their depth of experience. The specific details will be forthcoming and we anticipate the formalization of this program in early 2023, at which time applications will be accepted.

Please support the AACMFS Foundation by making a donation below:

https://aacmfsf.wildapricot.org/Donation/