Columbus orthodontist receives Ohio Dental Association Callahan Memorial Award
For Immediate Release
October 7, 2021
Dr. Henry Fields is a leader in organized dentistry and academics. In recognition of his efforts, he received the 2021 Ohio Dental Association Callahan Memorial Award on Friday, Oct. 1 at the Callahan Celebration of Excellence, held in conjunction with the 155th ODA Annual Session.
Fields earned his DDS from the University of Iowa in 1973 and then went on to study pedodontics there. Fields then went on to earn is MSD in orthodontics at the University of Washington. After graduating, he had the opportunity to become a faculty member at the University of North Carolina, where they had started a program that combined pediatric dentistry and orthodontics.
At UNC, Fields served as a professor, pediatric dentistry graduate program director, acting director of graduate studies and assistant dean for academic affairs.
Fields then moved on to become dean of The Ohio State University College of Dentistry, where he served for 10 years from 1991-2001. During his tenure as dean, the college was able to expand the endowment of the college, implement a comprehensive care model in the clinic, proliferate the faculty practice and improve its research profile.
He then became a professor at OSU and served as the orthodontic division chair for 14 years. He is now retired, but works part-time at OSU and Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
Fields has also been heavily involved in research. His research has included children’s behavior in a dental setting and how to improve it, craniofacial anomalies, vertical facial development and vertical occlusal function, indices of malocclusion and the epidemiology of malocclusion, diagnosis of malocclusion and treatment outcomes, informed consent, and smile esthetics.
He was also involved with two text books – he helped edit five editions of “Pediatric Dentistry: Infancy to Adolescence” and was a co-author of six editions of “Contemporary Orthodontics.”
Fields has served on many councils and committees with the Columbus Dental Society, the Ohio Dental Association and the American Dental Association. He served as president of the Columbus Dental Society in 2002 and the Ohio Dental Association in 2007.
He is also a member of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, American Association of Orthodontics, American Dental Education Association and others.
Fields is a Fellow of the American College of Dentists, the Pierre Fauchard Academy and the International College of Dentists. He has received many honors and awards, including the ODA Distinguished Dentist Award, the ODA Achievement Award, the Pierre Fauchard Society Ohio Distinguished Dentistry Honoree and the OSU College of Dentistry Fields Award for Excellence in Teaching and Research, among others.
The Callahan Memorial Award Commission was established in 1920 by the ODA to honor the work of John Ross Callahan, one of Ohio’s noted dental researchers and a leader in organized dentistry. Since its establishment, the award has continued to grow in prominence in the dental profession.
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Contact: David Owsiany, ODA executive director
Phone: (614) 486-2700
Email: david@oda.org
Photo available upon request.
