GHDS President's Message, Fall 2023

by Ron Hill, DDS, MSD

Hello everyone, and I hope you are enjoying your summer.  My name is Ron Hill, and I am the latest to join your Society’s long, distinguished history of leaders. I am an endodontist practicing here in Houston. I am originally from Bridge City, Texas, but have lived in Houston for almost 35 years, completing my undergraduate degree at the University of Houston, followed by dental school, a GPR and advanced specialty training at UTSD. I have been married to my lovely wife, Stacy for 20 years and have a son, Josh, who is in his second year at University of Arkansas and a daughter, Amy, who is starting her senior year in high school.

I initially practiced in the 8th District of the TDA for 2 years before transferring my membership to the 9th District. Not long after that, I was conversing with Dr. Doug Bogan, who was serving as GHDS President at that time. I vividly remember our conversation, as I told him it seemed to me that the most intimidating thing about being President of the Greater Houston Dental Society was having to write the President’s message for all the Journal editions. He laughed and told me that if that was what I thought was the hardest part about being President, I would make a good one someday. Of course, his comments were sage advice, but I will tell you that coming up with some interesting and relative content for this column is a daunting task for someone who does not have a deep creative well. I hope I can fulfill Dr. Bogan’s prophetic statement and successfully lead our Society into 2024, and I am very thankful for the opportunity given to me by my peers.

Although many of you may not have noticed yet, we are undergoing some changes at the Greater Houston Dental Society. We have recently re-branded. It may take some time to appear everywhere and become recognizable, but we are proud of the new design and hope you will be as well. We are also in the process of revamping some of our social media branding as well as content since it is now ubiquitous in communication, marketing and social interaction, and we want to make sure we are attempting to stay relative as well. I have also decided to make some changes to our general meetings. Since the pandemic, online meetings have transformed how we get continuing education requirements. It no longer seems that CE credits are the draw for our general meetings for many people. In addition, we are also changing the location of the meetings, with different venues that are in different areas of town that will not only change things up but make it a little easier for some to attend who otherwise do not want to make the trip into the Medical Center.

I want to make the meetings a little more social, and a little less formal, with only a few minutes for announcements and sponsor recognition. Despite the prevalence of social media, personal interaction and networking is still important, not only in a professional sense but on a human level. Sometimes we forget that we are not alone in our practices. The opportunity to see and interact with colleagues, classmates, and referring doctors has become even more important after the pandemic which caused limited social interaction.

Finally, I would be remiss in my duties if I did not mention the TDA Dentist Symposium, scheduled for Nov. 3-5. This is a great opportunity for morning education courses followed by free afternoons for golf, tennis, or other activities. Plan on bringing your family with you to share in the fun of this great event! I feel we have an exciting year ahead in our Society with all the changes, and hopefully, we will see many of you at the first Member Meeting. It will be held Thursday, September 21 at Maggiano’s Little Italy – Galleria. For registration information, see inside this issue, our website, ghds.org, or social media pages.