NEWSWORTHY ITEMS

Prestigious Ethics Price

Founding Board Member Dr. Gunilla Nordenram is the first recipient of the Ethics Price, newly established by the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden.  The Institute's press release states:

"The purpose of the award is to help improve ethical awareness and to acknowledge worthy role models amongst its staff. The 2006 prize is being awarded to associate professor Gunilla Nordenram at the Department of Odontology for her efforts to raise people's understanding of the dental health of the elderly. 'As the proportion of old people in the population increases, the issue of how we take care of our elderly will be more and more current', says Harriet Wallberg-Henriksson, president of Karolinska Institutet. 'This prize is our way of showing how important it is that old people is regarded with respect and competence within the health care system.'  In their citation, the awards committee praised Gunilla Nordenram´s unfailing professional commitment to raising ethical awareness and knowledge of geriatric dental health and to maintaining a high degree of cross-professionalism in her message at undergraduate level and beyond. In her work, Dr Nordenram has preferred to focus on the whole person, seen from a live-long perspective. "Mutual respect" is the keyword of her research, clinical practice and teaching. 'Besides being very knowledgeable in ethical issues, Gunilla Nordenram is also an empathetic and considerate person,' says Stefan Einhorn, chairman of Karolinska Institutet´s ethical council. 'In other words, she´s a very deserving recipient of this first ethics prize.'  Dr Nordenram holds the country´s only lectureship in gerodontics (dental health care for the elderly) and has co-authored a large number of scientific articles and books on the subject. She is also a highly sought-after lecturer in her field. The newly inaugurated prize comprises a statuette and a diploma, and is to be awarded at Karolinska Institutet´s annual installation ceremony on 2 November.


 

Upcoming Elections for the IDEALS Board

The IDEALS Elections Committee wishes to alert the IDEALS members that during the upcoming Business Meeting of the general Assembly (held during the 7th International Dental Ethics and Law Congress in Toronto, Canada, May 24026, 2007), an election will take place for IDEALS Board members.  In order to vote, or be a candidate for office, IDEALS members need not attend the International Congress  or the Business Meeting.

The following article of the IDEALS Statutes regulate the election process:

14.3 Persons seeking office on the Board shall:
a. be individual members of the association; institutional members cannot be elected to the Board;
b. be a member of the association for no less than two consecutive years;
c. express both willingness and ability to effectively fulfill the tasks assigned to the Board, particularly for the five offices specified in article 14.1;
d. have access to email and the internet.

14.5 Candidates for Board membership shall be proposed by the Board to the General Assembly.

14.6 Nominations and self-nominations shall be forwarded to the Board no later than two months prior to the next business meeting of the General Assembly. The Board decides whether to propose the nominee as candidate to the General Assembly for election.

14.7 If a nomination or self-nomination is supported by no less than 10% of the members of association and if the (self-)nomination with the signatures of the required number of members arrives two months in advance of the date of the proposed General Assembly meeting, the nominee shall automatically be a candidate for Board membership.

In 2007, the terms of the current Treasurer as well as the Assistant-Secretary expire. Furthermore, the terms of three at-large Board members will expire.  The Board invites and encourages members with an interest in serving on the Board to contact the Secretary (secretary@ideals.ac) or the Chair of the Elections Committee (Dr. John Clement at johngc@unimelb.edu.au).