MARVIN FISK HUMANITARIAN AWARD: DR. ROGER HAAS
Dr. Roger Haas is the 2024 recipient of the ODA’s Marvin Fisk Humanitarian Award.
Dr. Roger Haas has been dedicated to providing orthodontic care for children in need throughout his career. In recognition of his efforts, he will receive the Ohio Dental Association Marvin Fisk Humanitarian Award on Friday, Sept. 13 at the Callahan Celebration of Excellence, held in conjunction with the 158th ODA Annual Session.
“Dr. Haas is being nominated for his life-long commitment as an orthodontist for providing orthodontic care for thousands of at-risk children and young adults in Summit County and surrounding areas,” wrote the Akron Dental Society in its nomination letter. “Dr. Roger Haas, along with his brothers and entire staff, has spent many thousands of hours generously providing much needed dental care to this under-served population in his community.”
Haas said he was surprised to receive the award and is honored to be recognized by his peers.
“I’m deeply thankful to receive the award,” he said. “I do so for my entire practice, my associates, our whole team at the practice. Without their help, there’s no way I could have treated this many patients.”
Haas said he didn’t always want to be an orthodontist or dentist, and started out studying architecture in college. But after a year in the program, he realized it was a tough field to make a living. His father was an orthodontist, and when he mentioned to him that he was interested in dentistry, he was a very enthusiastic supporter.
“A lot of the same principles of a great smile and moving teeth around are similar to architecture and how to make a nice building,” he said. “I’ve never regretted my decision; you can positively affect a whole lot more people than designing a few houses.”
Haas received early acceptance at The Ohio State University, which had a three-year program at the time, and earned his DDS in 1977. In 1979, he earned his Master of Science in Orthodontics from the University of Illinois, where his father was a visiting professor. He then joined his father in practice and subsequently his two brothers joined the practice as well. The practice has expanded to multiple locations, and Haas retired in 2023.
“Orthodontics and dentistry in general is a great profession,” Haas said. “You get to be your own boss, make your own hours, you’re good financially and best of all, you get to help a lot of people. It’s kind of cool when I see a patient and they come up to me years later and tell me he or she gets compliments on their teeth. That’s a great feeling you don’t get in a lot of jobs where people give you a shoutout.”
Haas said he was inspired to start volunteering by his uncle David Haas, an orthodontist in Akron who helped set up the Akron Craniofacial Clinic. Dr. Roger Haas was involved in the clinic from 1979-2020, which used a multidisciplinary team approach to treat difficult cases with craniofacial anomalies.
In 1985, he and his father, Dr. Andrew Haas, began seeing Medicaid patients after being contacted by the chair of the Ohio State Orthodontic Department who was struggling to find orthodontists willing to participate in the program.
“Well 39 years and 4,700 cases later, our practice, including my brothers, we’ve probably given back about $9.5 million of services over prevailing rates,” Dr. Roger Haas said.
Haas said he decided early in his career that it was important for him to give back to the community.
“Not too long after I started practice, I went to a CE course where the topic was how to get your patients to say yes to expensive cosmetic procedures,” Haas said. “The gentleman giving the course was only looking to serve the top 10% of financial patients. I looked around at the full lecture room and thought if all these guys are going for the top 10%, who will take care of the other 90%? And at that point is when I decided I was going to take care of other 90%.”
Haas is a member of the Akron Dental Society, Ohio Dental Association, American Dental Association, Cleveland Orthodontic Society, Great Lakes Society of Orthodontics and the American Association of Orthodontics.
Haas said organized dentistry is important to create a unified voice for the dental profession.
“For us dentists to do our best work, we need somebody to protect our interests,” he said. “Government, corporations, insurance companies are always focusing on the bottom line, pushing to cut costs and in doing so cut patient care. It’s difficult as individuals to fight these groups. We need a unified voice to protect our interests and our patients’ interests, I think that’s the biggest value of organized dentistry.”
Outside of dentistry, Haas enjoys woodworking, gardening, taking walks and listening to podcasts. He has seven grandchildren and enjoys spending time with his family.
Haas would like to thank his father, Dr. Andrew Haas, for guidance and motivation. He would like to highlight his brothers, Drs. Eric and Mark Haas, who continue on the tradition of serving the Medicaid community. And most importantly, he would like to thank his wife of 47 years, Bonnie, for being there throughout his career. He also would like to recognize the oral surgeons his practice worked with in treating cases, Drs. John Brokloff, Ed McDonnell, Dave Kimberly and Rob Klein
The Marvin Fisk Humanitarian Award is given to dentists who are working to improve the oral health of people in need, of all ages and from all walks of life. The award winners give of their time and energy overseas or closer to home, spending hours and personal resources to help fight illnesses.
