b'The AAP is looked to as the expert in this regard, which is of great value to our standing and profession. I was fortunate to meet many passionate and encouragingeye toward value for their members. Obviously with many people during my interview process, which included twomembers, a challenge for each organization is to stay true individuals who I would meet again later in my career. Oneto the stated purpose/agreed upon value or mission since was an enthusiastic young faculty member named Dr. Hom- satisfying the diversity of each individual members specific Lay Wang who was about to start his first year as a programrequest will be difficult. I learned this lesson with my first director. The second was another candidate I met at myelected leadership position at the St. Suzanne Middle School interview and had lunch with in New York named Dr. Waynein Detroit when I was elected student government president. Aldredge. These experiences helped reinforce my decisionMy first lesson was that it was not possible to make everyone to choose Periodontology. happy all of the time, but if you do your best and stay true to what you think is right by your mission, most people are Youve been very active in both nationalsatisfied. organizations such as the AAP and regional organizations like the Michigan Dental AssociationWhile there are some similarities between national and and Detroit District Dental Society. How would youregional organizations, each organization is its own entity. say national and regional organizations are similar?While the AAP and American Dental Association are both How are they different?national dental organizations, they are different and benefit National and regional dental organizations are similar inmembers in different ways. For example, as an Academy the that they must stay relevant and valuable in purpose forAAP has as one of its charges to assimilate and disseminate their members. Each membership in an organization is athe highest level of knowledge relative to the specialty of value proposition. Elected organizational leaders must striveperiodontology. The AAP is looked to as the expert in this to make the best decisions for their organization with anregard, which is of great value to our standing and profession. The ADA has as part of its charge the level of political advocacy (ADPAC) that is unmatched by almost every other profession. We benefit from this advocacy on Capitol Hill, as ADPAC meets regularly and lobbies Senators and members of Congress to write policies and vote favorably for causes important to dentists. There are many other examples, but these examples show that both organizations are important and not interchangeable nor redundant. We are fortunate as a profession to have many periodontist leaders not just at the AAP, but at the ADA, regional, state, and local levels. When I served as president of the Michigan Dental Association and as an ADA delegate, I was impressed and thankful for how many periodontists were represented in these roles!Other differences exist between regional and national organizations by the nature of who they represent, and which specific issues and regulations are pertinent geographically. I became president of the MDA during the beginning of the COVID pandemic, and in the midst of the shutdown. While the dentists of Michigan, like other states, wanted to get Continued on page 12AAP Periospectives| 11'