New award encourages new investigators in dental informatics

The American Dental Association created the Robert H. Ahlstrom New Investigator Award for Dental Informatics Research to encourage an interest in dental informatics standards among dental students, new dentists and dentists pursuing post-doctoral studies.
Applications are due Feb. 1.

Through the Ahlstrom Award, the ADA aims to highlight the crucial role that dental informatics standards play in improving the quality of patient care, assuring patient health and safety and increasing efficiency through use of information technology.

An ADA Board member and leaders from the ADA Council on Dental Practice and the ADA Standards Committee on Dental Informatics comprise the awards committee. They will select a winner in May 2015.

The winner will receive airfare and accommodations to present the award-winning project in November 2015 at the ADA SCDI annual meeting in Washington, D.C.

As the first chairman of the ADA Standards Committee on Dental Informatics, which was formed in 1999, Dr. Ahlstrom brought together dental informatics experts from across the dental profession, representing dentists, government, academia, and industry. He led the group’s successful efforts to develop standards for information exchange, clinical informatics systems and knowledge management. Dr. Ahlstrom served as chairman of the SCDI until 2006.

For application materials for the Robert H. Ahlstrom New Investigator Award, including specific submission requirements for eligibility, and more information about the ADA Standards Programs, please visit ADA.org/dentalstandards.