CDA Award Winners Each year, CDA honours individuals and organizations that have made exceptional contributions to the dental profession and the oral health of Canadians. The most recent CDA awards were presented during the President’s Installation Dinner (PID) inWinnipeg, Manitoba, inApril 2023. The PID was made possible through the generous support of CDSPI. Dr. John O’Keefe joined CDA in 1997 and served in many capacities for the association in the publications department, including as Director of Knowledge Networks. During his tenure, he was responsible for the development of the CDA Oasis suite of clinical decision support tools for the dental team, served as editor of the Journal of the Canadian Dental Association and spearheaded the creation of CDA Essentials magazine. Dr. O’Keefe combined his keen interest in the importance of knowledge translation and his innate ability to think outside of the box to make many progressive changes to CDA’s communication strategies, transforming them to meet the current needs of dentists and those of tomorrow. Dr. O’Keefe nurtured and enhanced a sense of community within the profession. Always forward thinking, he was CDA staff lead on the Future of the Profession initiative and CDA’s Canadian Oral Health Roundtable discussions. After 25 years of service, culminating with the role of CDA’s Community Ambassador, Dr. O’Keefe retired in 2022. CDA was extremely fortunate and privileged to have a global ambassador for the profession and a communication visionary such as Dr. O’Keefe within its ranks. His dedication, vision and leadership left an indelible mark on Canadian dentistry. Dr. John O’Keefe CDA Medal of Honour The CDA Medal of Honour is the highest award conferred by CDA. It is given to a dentist in recognition of a lifetime of outstanding service and professional achievement to the benefit of the dental profession, the dental community and society at large, and to which can be attributed significant change. I was surprised when contacted a while back about this award. I should be giving CDA an award because the organization allowed me to occupy what I always considered to be the best job in dentistry in the world; communication and community building. With the support of the CDA board and the encouragement of senior staff colleagues, I think we did neat things together and we were recognized globally as leaders in the area of communication within our profession. But I almost didn’t take the job at all. It was only because my wife, Lucie, my North Star for 40 years, persuaded me that this job at CDA was the right one for me. She was correct about the job and so many other things over the years. And for that I am really thankful. If I’m accepting this award because of accomplishments, I attribute that to the hard work of the team members that I had the joy to work with in Publications and Knowledge Networks. I was always so impressed by their dedication, hard work, and the pride they took in serving the dentists of Canada. 13 Issue 4 | 2023 |
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