All awards on the table
Orthodontic faculty members were recognized during this statewide organization’s annual meeting.
Four orthodontic faculty members received accolades during the Texas Orthodontic Study Club’s 68th Annual Meeting. Among their ranks are two brothers with a combined 80 years spent teaching in the department and an alum who commutes more than two hours to campus every week.
“It’s a labor of love,” says Dr. Phillip Campbell, Robert E. Gaylord Endowed Chair, of the faculty members’ dedication to the department and patient case studies, which members present at the annual meeting. “We’re very proud of our faculty,” says Campbell, a former president of the statewide study group, who created the Trailblazer and Fred F. Schudy awards more than 20 years ago.
Brothers and clinical professors Drs. Richard “Wick” Alexander and C. Moody Alexander, former chair of the department, received the 2014 Trailblazer Award. Their sons and fellow orthodontists, Drs. Chuck and J. Moody Alexander, and Dr. Cliff Alexander, respectively, presented the awards.
Fred F. Schudy achievement certificates went to clinical assistant professors Dr. Katie Julien ’92, ’94 and Dr. Devek Frech ’86, who drives to the college from his Wichita Falls, Texas, practice every Monday to teach residents in the clinic. The Schudy award is given to 10 study club members whose outstanding case presentations offer unique or unexpected approaches.
In addition to noteworthy treatment methods, a hallmark of the orthodontic faculty at Texas A&M University Baylor College of Dentistry is a willingness to teach residents a variety of techniques, a mindset that may explain the recognition the department has received from the organization.
“We don’t teach any one concept,” Campbell says. “When residents come here to learn orthodontics, they learn every possible way to do things. We use every type of bracket available on the market. We want them to try all the possibilities.”
—Jenny Fuentes