Introducing Dr Gustavo Molina – Incoming President IADH 2022-24
28th August 2022
Gustavo Molina, the incoming President of IADH was inagurated during the General Assembly of iADH in Paris on Thursday 26th August 2022.
He delighted the members by singing a song by the great Argentinean singer Mercedes Sosa after his emotional presidential address which you can read below.. This cultually significant song was chosen to represent the rising and coming together of IADH membership after the darkness of the Pandemic….’como la cigara’
iADH Incoming President Address
Dear members of the iADH,
Let me introduce myself, more relaxed now and without the singing part.
My name is Gustavo and I have the monumental task of taking over Prof. Alison Dougall as the president of our association.
Although it´d be a difficult mission, I am sure we will continue working as a team, together with the Executive Board, all the committee members and the membership as well: We have a lot of exciting projects ahead!
I wish you all get to love iADH as much as I do. This association has been a nest to many dreams and a wonderful place for exchanging knowledge, concerns and ideas to improve the quality of life of people with disability by taking care of their oral health.
My first iADH congress was in Trier, 1994. I happened to be there thanks to Rodolfo Castillo Morales, who had been invited to give a course about his Orofacial Regulation Therapy.
He had told me that attending to the Trier conference was a good opportunity to meet Bo Hedås, who I was supposed to follow afterwards for a visit in Sweden. That was the begining of a magical mistery tour!
After Trier, Edinburgh followed in 1996, Yokohama in 1998, Madrid in 2000… I couldn´t stop attending these congresses. And it was very difficult to explain why attending was sooo important.
It´s quite unusual that you get acquainted to great professors in such a lay and honest way! June Nunn, Kari Storhaug, Ana-Lenna Hallonsten… They were able to make you feel an expert, that your 5 cents was a significant contribution to science…
And that was so encouraging!!
Every one of us can make a significant contribution to improve oral health in people with disability. The first step would be to listen to their needs, their expectations, so we may offer our best resources to meet these (and not our own).
Year 2002 was not a good year in Argentina and it took a while until I could join another fabulous iADH meeting.
During that period, I developed the DINOH project (Developing International Networks for Oral Health), a web-based platform for a multidisciplinary exchange of knowledge and concerns regarding Disability and Oral Health. A bit ahead of time, this project was sponsored by iADH but virtuality was not needed that much in 2006.
Then I re-joined in Göteborg 2006. A magic congress organized by our dearest Jan Anderson Norinder and his wonderful Swedish team.
Our Latin American opportunity came in Santos 2008. Could you ever have imagined Brazil and Argentina working together for a common aim? Marcello Boccia and Gabriela Scagnet made it possible.
Some of you may remember those lovely days we spent in the hills of Córdoba for the post congress seminars with Rodolfo Castillo Morales and Jo Frencken.
Do not worry, I will not describe each congress ever since. Besides, there should be a life full of exciting endeavors beyond iADH congresses.
In any case, each of these meetings should be fuel to carry on with our best efforts for higher aims. If that is so, you´d understand the importance of such gatherings.
Looking at the future, we have two years starting now to listen to people, to collect evidence, to develop research and projects, to be ready for Seoul 2024. Let´s keep in touch!