146TH ANNUAL SESSION
Dr . Robert Runzo Receives
PDA DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD
Dr . R . Donald Hoffman presented the PDA Distinguished Service Award to Dr . Robert Runzo on April 26 during the Second Meeting of the House of Delegates .
The recipient of the 2014 PDA Distinguished Service Award is Dr . Robert Runzo . Bob has been a fixture in my life for 42 years as a mentor and a friend and I should say that many of you also have known him , been mentored by him , and been guided by his direction over the years . Bob would you come up for the award .
Dr . Runzo ’ s remarks :
Mr . President , thank you for your very , very kind introduction . And , also I want to thank Dr . Hoffman for his excellent service this year as president of our PDA , and more than that , his 40 plus years at Pitt both as an educator and administrator . Forty years is a long time and he is one of the factors that helped make Pitt one of the great dental schools in the United States . So , thank you .
Officers , trustees , members of the House , colleagues and most importantly , friends , it ’ s truly a great honor to be included as a member of a very special group of individuals who have received this award over the years .
Sixty-six years ago , most of you are not that old , 1948 , I graduated into the world of dentistry and I entered the University of Pittsburgh as a freshman . I certainly have loved my profession over the years and I would do it all over again – it ’ s a fabulous profession . I served both as a pediatric anesthesiologist and a pediatric dentist and I ’ m most grateful for having had the good fortune and privilege of being a dentist .
Now over the years there have been a lot of changes in dentistry , mostly for the betterment , not only of the profession but for our patients , which is very important . But aside from all of the new techniques and procedures , equipment and the 3-D ’ s and all the other stuff in the office , I think the greatest change I ’ ve noticed over the years is a proliferation of dental groups , individuals and organizations whose members have given so freely of their time to help the tens of thousands of individuals
who in the past have needed care and not been able to receive it for many , many reasons . To name just a few groups : Special Care Dentistry , the American Society of Geriatric Dentistry , The Academy of Dentistry for Persons with Disabilities , and the dental homes that have been established . Both the American College and the International College have foundations to help . Give Kids a Smile ( which everybody ’ s in ), the Catholic Charities , the Fisher House , Donated Dental Services , and very importantly Missions of Mercy which kind of brings us very close to home . Gary spoke of this a little bit ago and we have our own in Pennsylvania . I think mainly , initially , because of Bernie Dishler and Gary Davis , who in 2012 , founded and incorporated this and you all know the details . A year later almost 2,000 people in a two-day period were treated for dental care in a big facility in North Philadelphia somewhere and these people probably had never had care before , and these wonderful people gave their time ( to me they were magnificent ) a thousand magnificent people gave of themselves
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