Issue Number 173 Summer 2013 1111 14th St. NW., Suite #1100, Washington, DC, 20005 hispanicdental@HDAssoc.org • www.HDAssoc.org
23rd Annual Meeting
Schedule
Preview p.10
HDA HERITAGE ISSUE Welcome New Professionals p.6 Disturbing Shortage of Hispanic Dentists p.7 HDA Couples p.7
HDA Partnership to help secure financing for Members p.9 See you in Boston! p.12 Student Profiles p.14 Discrimination Against PLWHA Still Lingers p.16 HSDA Chapters Invest in the Pipeline p.17
Our First President’s Perspective Twenty three years ago, various Hispanic leaders began meeting on a monthly basis to design what we know today as the Hispanic Dental Association. One such leader was Dr. Francisco Rivera Hidalgo, currently based out of Dallas, Texas. “The Godoys from the American Journal of Dentistry, called me and asked me to join them in what would become the only Hispanic organization in dentistry inclusive of diverse oral health professionals and ethnicities,” says Hidalgo. “I joined in part because I noticed a lack of representation of Hispanics among CE
presenters. The organizing group felt like many Hispanics dentists did not affiliate with the usual associations so we felt a strong need to create an organization that would bring the full dental team together for leadership, service and educational opportunities.” The group of leaders, with help from Colgate, conducted a market study on the use of “Hispanic” or “Latino” in our name and ultimately we agreed on Hispanic, creating HDA as “To provide leadership and represent professionals who share a common commitment to improve the oral health of the Hispanic community.”
Continued on page 3
Photo: Steven Doll
The Ripple Effects of a Passion-Driven Life p.8