AADOCR Q&A with the CEO

The core reason we expanded the name is inclusivity: our organization must be comprised of a vibrant community that provides a professional home for all dental, oral, and craniofacial researchers

The name expansion also reflects our commitment to connecting our scientific community while elevating the level of science, while allowing us to:

• Include and be more collaborative with “frontier” investigators
• Better tailor and communicate our programming and member benefits
• Leverage sections and scientific groups/networks to increase our scientific contributions
• Be proactive in initiating collaborative responses to NIH/NIDCR PAs and RFPs

Our goal is to better engage and represent multidisciplinary scientists who advance dental, oral, and craniofacial research by:

• Attracting all dental, oral, and craniofacial researchers to join, submit to our journals, and participate in our meetings, especially those with current or past NIDCR funding.
• Engaging non-dental school research institutions to get involved with the organization.
• Opening the doors to scientists championing research that contributes to overall health and well-being.
• Demonstrate that AADOCR represents multidisciplinary professionals who are advancing dental, oral, and craniofacial research.
• Encouraging lapsed members to rejoin.
• Building engagement among members.

This decision was made after in-depth research and discussion with key stakeholders.

In the fall of 2018, the AADR Board of Directors, in consultation with a strategic consultant, began the process of determining how to elevate the level of science within the organization.  The Board interviewed key member and non-member stakeholders on mechanisms to reach researchers in dental, oral, and craniofacial research that are not members, publishing in our journals, or presenting at our meetings. 

A key finding showed that expanding the name to the American Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research to align with NIDCR more closely would help attract new researchers to the organization. 

This was vetted by the Council and the name expansion was approved by the AADR membership in the fall 2020.

The expanded name is visually communicated through a modern, fresh logo.

The logo emphasizes the dynamic and diverse scientific communities found within AADOCR. The three arches of differing colors seen within the abstract head outline highlight the three key research areas of our organization—dental, oral, and craniofacial—and references the different parts of the head studied by AADOCR members.

We recognize that an expanded name is just the beginning. Moving ahead, we will focus our attention on elevating the level of science and engaging new professionals by offering programs such as:

• State-of-the-art symposia with new “frontier” scientists
• “Meetings within a Meeting” at the Annual Meeting highlighting cutting-edge science.
• Webinars by thought-leaders
• Ambassadors Program to link AADOCR researchers with NIDCR funded non-members.