b'AAP FOUNDATIONCaring for others at home and abroad: AAP Foundation award recipients are making a differenceAt the AAP Foundation, we know that those who receive our awards are special. They have already achieved great things in the field of periodontology and have worked to set themselves apart as leaders and innovators. For some, their work extends to helping underserved populations at home and away.In addition to helping educate future periodontists as a Lecturer in the Division of Periodontology at Harvard School of Dental Medicine, 2011 AAP Foundation Educator Scholar Dr. Soo Woo Kim co-founded Dentists for Humanity. Guided by their motto, "Changing Lives by Volunteering and Mentoring," Dentists for Humanity leads mission trips 5 to 6 times per year, providing essential dental services in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Each trip brings a group of 3 to 4 doctors, 5 to 15 dental students, and 2 to 4 pre-dental students, along with non-dental volunteers. The organization built a clinic in the Dominican Republic in 2019. The clinic is the organizations home base when volunteers are there. When they are not, Dentists for Humanity has hired a dentist from Paraguay to perform follow-up care to patients a couple of days per week. Each volunteer trip sees 500-700 patients,meaningful changes, acknowledging the difficulty in doing so. Many serving nearly 2,000 patients per year. Dr. Kim isparticipants regard this reflective journey as truly transformative, exploring other geographic areas in need, and hasenriching their lives in profound ways, adds Dr. Kim.visited refugee camps in Greece, a dental school in Madagascar, impoverished border towns in Mexico, aOur nonprofit continues to make a meaningful impact on us, as volcanic village in Nicaragua, and a remote island indentists and periodontists, as well as on the people we serve. I\'m Columbia. This year, he will travel to Cambodia and Fiji. grateful for the AAP Foundation Educator Award, as it inspired me to prioritize educating students with not only practical skills, but also the After serving as a predoctoral program director forcompassion necessary to provide exceptional patient care, concludes seven years, Dr. Kim stepped down from this role inDr. Kim. To learn more about Dentists for Humanity, join a mission, or 2019 to focus on his nonprofit pursuits. True dentaldonate, visit www.facebook.com/dentistsforhumanityeducation starts with empathy. I learned this firsthand during my first mission trip and realized that I could2007 AAP Foundation Educator Scholar, Dr. Meggan help others understand the vital role compassionWehmeyer, spent the four years following her Foundation award plays in care through providing global service-learningeducating future periodontists at the University of Texas at Houston, experiences, says Dr. Kim. then at the University of Mississippi. When her husbands job brought their family to New Hampshire, too far from a dental school to make Dr. Kim ensures that his volunteers have a meaningfulteaching a viable job choice, she had to weigh her options. Dr. experience with his organization. In addition to patientWehmeyer found an opening at Community Dental Care of Claremont care, our days conclude with a reflective session and aand started working there one day per week. Now, eight years later, brief seminar on fostering empathy and accountabilityshe is their full-time dental director. Service runs in Dr. Wehmeyers in everyday life. We also engage in discussionsfamily; her father, Dr. Craig Hovick, won the Humanitarian of the Year on overcoming life\'s challenges and implementingAward in 2014 from the AAP. 38'