The Lucy Hobbs Projects – 5th Anniversary Celebration Awards 2017

SEVERAL HUNDRED dental-industry professionals gathered in Philadelphia this April for two days of networking, innovation and giving back under the auspices of the Lucy Hobbs Project.

This year’s Annual Celebration had special resonance: It marked the Lucy Hobbs Project’s fifth year, and among the attendees were a number of previous winners of Lucy Hobbs Awards who came to what we’ll call the City of Sisterly Love to reconnect. (Among this year’s sponsors were Crest, Oral-B, KaVo Kerr Group, Ivoclar Vivodent, 3M, Hu-Friedy, GLO Science, Sunstar, Medicom, Centrix, Dental EZ and Cain, Watters & Associates.)

“You and your journeys are so inspiring, whether you realize it or not,” Julie Radzyminski, Benco Dental’s vice president of business innovation, told the attendees. “We all have obstacles, but you do it with such poise. It’s all of us, pulling together and helping one another when we’re down. Look around this room — we’ve made great strides.”

The highlight of the two-day gala was the recognition of this year’s six Lucy Hobbs Award winners, whose stories you see on the preceding pages, as well as a reunion of a dozen former winners. The event also featured guest speakers — former American Dental Association president Carol Gomez Summerhays among them — networking events, plenty of time for socializing and an illuminating panel discussion, “Emerging Leaders in Dentistry: The Female Influence.”

Perhaps the finest distillation of the spirit of this year’s Celebration came from Andrea Joy Smith, who took home the Clinical Expertise Award (see page 52). “When I’m chairside, seven days a week sometimes, I know it is hard,” Dr. Smith told attendees. “I know it is working — but it doesn’t feel like work.”