b'YOUR ACADEMY AT WORKCandidate for secretary/treasurerIt is an honor to be nominated for the position of Secretary/Treasurer of the American Academy of Periodontology. Like many of you, I am a full-time clinician, having been in private practice for the past 30 years, and a volunteer educator for 27 years, which provided a platform to see the struggles that our young periodontists face. As a member of the Task Force to Evaluate Predoctoral Periodontal Education, I am confident the information now being assessed will allow us to identify insufficiencies and guide us in Ana Becil Giglio, DDS finding ways to strengthen our presence in predoctoral education.Currently in my fifth year as District 7 AAP trustee, I have collaborated on numerous crucial committees and task forces including Finance, Audit, and Strategic Planning and was elected by my fellow trustees to serve on the Executive Committee. While a member of Strategic Planning, the ongoing periodontal professionals survey and targeted membership focus groups were approved to engage membership and gain valuable feedback on the current state of periodontology in your community and your experiences with the AAP. My service at the regional level includes being a past board member and By sharingpresident of the Northeastern Society of Periodontists.I am passionate about periodontics and grateful for all the opportunities that it has contemporaryafforded me. This, however, is not the same specialty I entered 30 years ago - we are at a crossroads and facing a multitude of daunting challenges. Practice models have information,changed, referrals are diminishing along with our role in dental education, third-party payers are attempting to dictate treatment, and patients are influenced by marketing emphasizingcampaigns which ignore the specialty training and aptitude of periodontists.As an officer, my primary goal would be to promote member success by ensuring that our expertiseour Academy focuses on the issues which are pertinent to all of us and make data driven decisions that address the changing landscape. My vision for the future of our Academy and uniqueencompasses developing strategies to tackle these challenges and increase opportunities skillset withfor our members to enhance and expand their role in the dental community.Advocate for our Membersour colleagues,Early in my tenure on the Board of Trustees, as board liaison to the State and Regional Assembly (SRA), I recognized the necessity for political advocacy by the AAP. It is we position theimperative that periodontists are in leadership positions in local and state organizations to ensure our interests are promoted and protected. To be successful, we need a periodontist asregional voice - periodontists must sit on state boards and be appointed to meaningful committees, such as sedation. In turn, the regional leaders must report back to the AAP the leader into inform about local challenges so the Academy can support our members.The American Board of Periodontology recently gave us a mechanism to differentiate multidisciplinaryourselves from all other dentists: we are the only recognized specialty whose members can be board certified in the full scope of periodontology and dental implant surgery.patient care. This certification exemplifies advocacy for our profession by allowing us to advertise to the public these singular credentials that distinguish us from all others within dentistry.Our Academy must make prudent investments in public awareness campaigns that highlight consumer perception of the role of the periodontist and educate about periodontal disease while endorsing periodontists as the dental professional of choice in the treatment of periodontal disease and dental implant therapy. I realize the Love AAP Periospectives| 10'