Component Advocacy Allocation, Women’s Leadership Program and More Gain Board Approval

The AAO Board of Trustees met recently in St. Louis, taking action to update and extend services and programs of importance to many AAO members. Hear perspectives on key current and recent AAO initiatives, financial updates and more from Drs. Lauren Pass, Enrique Cruz, Anil Idiculla and Trista Felty in the new “Board Buzz” video.

Among items approved by the Board were:

● A budget allocation from the AAO Fiscal Year 2023-24 Component Legal Support Fund (CLSF) for up to $270,000 for component political and regulatory advocacy priorities. The CLSF covers expenses for advocacy by the AAO in U.S. states and Canadian provinces.

● Two AAO mental wellness proposals. In the Board Buzz video, Dr. Idiculla discusses these new AAO commitments in light of recent National Institutes of Health data.

The AAO will make mental health a significant focus of one or more future meetings and will establish a Mental Wellness Task Force comprised of volunteer leaders from various AAO councils along with staff members. The task force will consider mental wellness-specific advocacy, education and partnership opportunities to provide resources and support to members.

● Funding of the AAO Women’s Leadership Development and Training program for Fiscal Year 2024-25. The first such program, AAO Women’s Leadership Challenge, took place in FY 2022-23. The Special Committee on Women Orthodontists developed the Leadership Challenge and will continue to coordinate and improve it, and assist the AAO in developing a similar annual program.

● Development of a plan to transition the Full-time Faculty Fellowship Program from the AAO to the AAO Foundation. Dr. Ki Beom Kim, Dr. Richard Williams and AAO staff liaison Michelle Ritterskamp are to work with AAOF representation to create a plan and timeline to transfer FFTF ownership to the AAOF, while meeting specific requirements.

● Hiring by the AAO Business Development Task Force of a third-party consultant funded from the Innovation & Transformation Fund to evaluate and make end-to-end recommendations to improve the AAO endorsed insurance program in its entirety, with the goal of providing an insurance program that is the very best for AAO members.

As a policy update, the AAO Advertising Policy will now prohibit acceptance of paid advertising for political campaigns in AAO electronic and print media.