The AAO elected officers for 2017-18 and installed a new member of the Board of Trustees during the recent 117th Annual Session in San Diego. The leaders have successful orthodontic practices and bring the AAO diverse expertise in political advocacy, education, research and organizational leadership. They include:

Dr. Nahid Maleki, President


Dr. Nahid Maleki of Washington, D.C., is the 2017-18 president of the AAO.  She joined the AAO Board in 2008 as a representative of the Middle Atlantic Society of Orthodontists (MASO).

A past president of MASO and a MASO delegate to the AAO House of Delegates for 12 years, Dr. Maleki has long been engaged in political work on behalf of the AAO, the orthodontic specialty and orthodontic patients. She was MASO’s representative on the AAO Council on Governmental (COGA) Affairs for eight years and served for a year as the COGA chair.  She also has served as MASO’s representative on the AAO Political Action Committee Board of Directors. She is also a past president of the District of Columbia Society of Orthodontists.

Dr. Maleki completed her orthodontic residency at Georgetown University and then began a 14-year career as an orthodontic faculty member with her alma mater, where she was a tenured associate professor. She opened her private practice limited to orthodontics in Washington, D.C. in 1982 and has also published articles in a number of peer-reviewed journals. In 2006, she received MASO’s Gerard A. Devlin Memorial Award for Distinguished Service.

Since joining the AAO Board of Trustees, Dr. Maleki has served on numerous BOT committees and task forces, and as the BOT liaison to numerous AAO councils.

Dr. Brent Larson, President-Elect

Dr. Brent E. Larson is the 2017-18 president-elect of the AAO. Currently the director of the Division of Orthodontics and a professor of orthodontics at the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry, Dr. Larson also has had a private orthodontic practice in Rochester, Minnesota since 1990.

A leader in organized orthodontics, orthodontic education, research and organized dentistry throughout his career, Dr. Larson has been:

● A site visitor for the Commission on Dental Accreditation for Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics;
● Chair of the AAO Task Force on Orthodontic Faculty Recruitment and Retention.
● President of the Minnesota Association of Orthodontists and Midwestern Society of Orthodontists (MSO);
● Chair of the MSO delegation to the AAO House of Delegates.
● Chair of the AAO Council on Information Technology (now Committee on Information Technology (C-TECH), the AAO Council on Orthodontic Education and the AAO Foundation Planning and Awards Review Committee;
● Educational liaison to the editorial board of the American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics (AJO-DO);
● A reviewer and synopsis writer for Practical Reviews in Orthodontics, a monthly literature review publication distributed around the world.

Dr. Larson has published articles in a variety of refereed journals, including the AJO-DO, writing on clinical and educational topics, and more recently on 3D imaging and orthodontic treatment outcomes.  He has lectured throughout the United States and abroad on orthodontic imaging, clinical topics, and orthodontic educational issues.

After earning his DDS degree from the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry, Dr. Larson completed a general practice residency in dentistry at Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas. As an Air Force officer, he served as a general dentist at Plattsburgh Air Force Base in New York, and later, after becoming an orthodontist, as chief of orthodontics and quality assurance coordinator at Torrejon Air Base in Spain.  Dr. Larson is a graduate of the orthodontic residency and education program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Prior to joining the faculty of the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry, Dr. Larson served as the orthodontic program director at the Mayo Clinic and as an assistant professor in the Department of Dental Specialties at the Mayo Medical School.

Among awards and honors presented to Dr. Larson are the Distinguished Dental Alumni Award from the University of Minnesota, the Earl E. Shepard Award of Distinction from the ABO for the highest achievement on the written board exam, and Teacher of the Year, Department of Dental Specialties Mayo Clinic, which recognized him for four consecutive years.  He was inducted into the Mayo Clinic Teachers’ Hall of Fame.

Dr. Gary Inman, Secretary-Treasurer

Dr. Gary O. Inman was elected the AAO 2017-18 secretary-treasurer. Dr. Inman, who has offices in Elizabethtown, Campbellsville and Glasgow, Kentucky, is also the Southern Association of Orthodontists (SAO) representative on the AAO Board of Trustees.

A devoted advocate of the orthodontic specialty in the political arena, Dr. Inman has served as chairman of the AAO Council on Governmental Affairs (COGA) and spent eight years on the Council. He enjoys taking the AAO message to “The Hill.”

A Diplomate of the American Board of Orthodontics, Dr. Inman is a past president of the SAO and of the Kentucky Association of Orthodontists. He represented Kentucky at the AAO House of Delegates for 20 years.

As a leader, Dr. Inman emphasizes the importance of a team effort, reflecting his years attending the University of Louisville on a football scholarship and playing quarterback and safety. Dr. Inman was inducted into the U of L Athletic Hall of Fame and was to be drafted into the NFL in a late round. Choosing a career in dentistry over both the NFL and a coaching opportunity, Dr. Inman attended the University of Louisville School of Dentistry and also completed his orthodontic residency at U of L. Dr. Inman still enjoys cheering on the U of L Cardinals with his family, including his wife of 48 years, Susie; three sons, Dr. Greg Inman (current Southern Association of Orthodontists President), Al , and Nick; five grandsons and one granddaughter.

In 2013, Dr. Inman received the Oren Oliver Distinguished Service Award from the Southern Association of Orthodontists.

Dr. Michael Durbin, New Trustee


Dr. Michael G. Durbin, who has an orthodontic practice in Des Plaines, Illinois, was installed as the new trustee from the Midwestern Society of Orthodontists.

Dr. Durbin has a long history of diverse leadership and service in organized orthodontics and dentistry at local, state, regional and national levels, and in philanthropy.  He is the current president of the AAO’s Donated Orthodontic Services Program, which provides orthodontic treatment to low income children across the country who lack insurance coverage or who do not qualify for other assistance in their states of residence. He also serves as chair of the Chicago Dental Society Foundation, which operates a free dental clinic in the western suburbs of Chicago.

A past delegate to the AAO House of Delegates, Dr. Durbin also served on the association’s Council on Orthodontic Healthcare, including two years as chair. He was general chair of the MSO’s 2016 Annual Session, and is a past president of the Illinois Society of Orthodontists.

Also active with the American Dental Association, Dr. Durbin’s volunteer positions have included the ADA Council on Membership – including a year as chair – and the ADA House of Delegates.  Dr. Durbin has served on the Board of Trustees for Illinois State Dental Society, and on the Board of Directors of the Central Dental Society.

Dr. Durbin completed his dental education and orthodontic residency at the University of Illinois College of Dentistry.  He opened his orthodontic practice in 1990 and has been a partner in Associated Dental Specialists of Long Grove since 1998. A Diplomate of the American Board of Orthodontics, Dr. Durbin is the recipient of the ADA’s 2015 President’s Award and the ISDS 2014 President’s Award.

In addition to Drs. Maleki, Larson, Inman, and Durbin, other members of the AAO Board of Trustees are:

  • Dr. Christopher A. Roberts, Findlay, Ohio, Great Lakes Association of Orthodontists
  • Dr. J. Kendall Dillehay, Wichita, Kansas, Southwestern Society of Orthodontists
  • Dr. Norman J. Nagel, Simi Valley, California, Pacific Coast Society of Orthodontists
  • Dr. Myron D. Guymon, Logan, Utah, Rocky Mountain Society of Orthodontists
  • Dr. John D. Callahan, Fayetteville, New York, Northeastern Society of Orthodontists
  • Dr. Steven M. Siegel, Glen Burnie, Maryland, Middle Atlantic Society of Orthodontists
  • Dr. Rolf G. Behrents, St. Louis, Missouri, Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics
  • Dr. Michael J. Foy, Colorado Springs, Colorado, Speaker of the AAO House of Delegates
  • Dr. DeWayne McCamish, Chattanooga, Tennessee, Interim Executive Director of the AAO