Volume 8 • 2021 • Issue 6

CDA AwardWinners Innovative, creative, forward thinking and pragmatic, Dr. Don Gutkin was instrumental in developing the technological pathway that led to the development of CDAnet. Over 30 years ago, Dr. Gutkin and his colleagues on CDA’s Ad Hoc Third-Party Committee believed that the dental procedure coding system and dental claim form were not adequate to handle claims submissions to insurance companies. They launched a process to handle, re-organize, and create a new dental coding system for dental procedures. This eventually led to the development of the USC&LS and the standard dental claim form. This served as the impetus for the submission of electronic claims by dental offices to insurance carriers, and CDAnet was born. For the last 30 years, CDAnet has had a profound, beneficial impact on Canadian dentistry. It has reduced reimbursement time for dentists as well as management costs for dental offices. The value of CDAnet has been immense and it laid the foundation for the current ITRANS system. As one of the “founding fathers of CDAnet,” Dr. Gutkin demonstrated great vision and tenacity at a time when the use of technology in the dental office was in its infancy. For over 25 years, Dr. Debora Matthews has been a driving force in dental education and the research community. As a specialist in periodontology and expert in clinical epidemiology, she has advanced oral health through her teaching, research and service. In addition to her duties as associate dean at Dalhousie University’s faculty of dentistry, her role in spearheading and founding the Network for Canadian Oral Health Research (NCOHR) was instrumental. This group aims to build capacity for oral health research and technological innovation in Canada and developing the next generation of researchers in the profession. Dr. Matthews’ expertise in evidence-based dentistry (EBD) and as a clinical epidemiologist has been a central focus of her research. Dr. Matthews was a pioneer in developing one of the first EBD programs to be included in a dental curriculum in North America. She is a past-president of the Canadian Association for Dental Research, has chaired multiple international conferences and workshops, and has represented Canada at the International Association for Dental Research. Dr. Matthews is valued as a mentor and collaborator for students and colleagues alike. She has brought changes that have improved the teaching of dentistry, spurred dental research and enhanced the credibility of the profession in Canada and abroad. Dr. Phil Poon is a life-long advocate for dental care for the underserved. He has a long-standing record of community service focused on the working poor, refugees and new Canadians, Indigenous peoples, seniors and those living in low-income communities. Dr. Poon is a former president of the Winnipeg Dental Society and Manitoba Dental Association (MDA). He is a founder of the MDA Mentorship Program and is the current chair of its Committee on Dental Care for Residents in Long-Term Care Institutions. He served for many years as a member and chair of CDA’s Advocacy Committee and was a member of CDA’s previous governance review steering committee. Dr. Poon currently serves as chair of CDA’s NIHB Sub-Committee. Dr. Poon’s community outreach efforts have also been extensive. He has served as a dentist at the Siloam Mission and the St. Amant Centre in Winnipeg and has organized dental clinics for Vietnamese refugees. He is the current senior vice-chair of Manitoba Harvest, which collects, harvests and distributes healthy food to over 80,000 Manitobans each month. Dr. Poon’s commitment and actions have made a difference in the community and exemplify what it means to be a caring and compassionate dental professional. Honoured Member Award Recognizes an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the dental profession, in breadth and scope of achievement, over a sustained period of time. Dr. Don Gutkin Dr. Debora Matthews Dr. Phil Poon