Address by Mrs Mary McAleese, President of Ireland
2008; Wiley; Volume: 12; Issue: s1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1111/j.1600-0579.2007.00500.x
ISSN1600-0579
Autores Tópico(s)Global Health Workforce Issues
ResumoThe President of Ireland was warmly welcomed to the final plenary session of the meeting and was offered deep appreciation and gratitude for addressing the Congress and launching the Global Network. The full texts of the welcoming address by Prof. Diarmuid Shanley and the response on behalf of the Congress by Dr Richard Valachovic can be accessed on http://www.IFDEA.org (Global Congress Appendices 5.1 and 5.2). It gives me great pleasure to be amongst such a distinguished gathering of dental educators and dental students from all over the world and to formally launch the ‘Global Network on Dental Education’. I would like to thank my old friend Prof. Derry Shanley for his very kind invitation and to each of you I extend Ireland’s traditional welcome Céad Míle Fáilte– 100, 000 welcomes. It is a welcome very specially extended to those of you visiting Ireland from over 60 different countries. In this room is gathered a colossal global resource of experience, wisdom, insight and expertise: exactly the right building blocks needed to establish this Global Network on Dental Education which you have made your mission. I am one of those rare breeds of human beings who do not tense or hyperventilate at the thought of the dentist. It is just as well for I am married to one. In my defence, I can say that I have never deliberately sought to be related to dentists; in fact, I quite purposely married an accountant but he craftily apostatized after we were long married and became a born-again dentist. My brother, whom I had strongly encouraged in his career as a military pilot, rewarded all my efforts by also becoming a dentist and now despite my very best endeavours my electrical engineering daughter has abandoned her beloved wind-farms and, yes you have guessed it – she is about to start her studies in dentistry. So whilst I might not know much about teeth, I know a bit about dentists and dental students and it looks as if in my case it really is going to be a case of life-long learning. Leaving aside the McAleese clan’s personal dental network and turning to the launch today of the Global Network on Dental Education, it is remarkable to see just how rapidly the concept has been vindicated in the 10 years since the EU-funded DentEd project based here in Dublin first sought to promote convergence towards higher standards in dental education across national boundaries. Within 10 years, the project had expanded to embrace 160 institutions in 49 different countries and, almost inevitably by its own very dynamic, it called for the creation of a Global Network. And so we now have this web-driven Network, which will be based in Washington, DC, and at the Dublin Dental School, a huge new source of vitality and vision in dental education worldwide. When I was first elected, almost 10 years ago, I made ‘Building bridges’ the theme of my Presidency, so you can see the extent to which ‘dental speak’ has permeated my life. But, the concept seems particularly apt to this Global Dental Network, for in almost every sphere of life there is an extraordinary, synergetic power that can only be fully revealed and released by collaboration. Knowledge shared is not knowledge divided but rather multiplied. Good practice, good ideas, will travel fluently through this network challenging the outmoded, provoking the fresh and the new, ensuring that the very best available in the world is available throughout the world. Our world is a very unequal place and this network is itself a very powerful tool in the equalizing of experience and opportunity. I was heartened to learn in this context that, for example, delegates from the African nations represented here today plan to advance structures for their continental dental education association at this meeting. I know that you all wish them well and hope that their initiatives, facilitated by tools such as the Global Network, will enable similar developments in other regions with limited resources. Tomorrow’s dental students, practitioners and patients will experience many benefits from the very significant change in culture that the Global Network on Dental Education will bring into being. Its work will be facilitated by the International Federation of Dental Educators and Associations (IFDEA), which was also, I am proud to say, founded in Dublin back in 1992. Today IFDEA becomes an interactive Global Network of dental educators and all dental associations worldwide. This is a very ambitious, large-scale project, and it exists because of the singular dedication and striving of a great team of go-getters. Many of them are in this room and they are the founders of what will be an historic watershed in dental education world-wide. Public education will benefit, student education will benefit, research will benefit, professionalism will benefit, expertise will thrive, information needed to inform best practice and promote best treatment outcomes will travel quickly and easily instead of staying locked inside national or local or even disciplinary boundaries. Flat-earthers used to get a deservedly scathing reputation but in a much more practical and credible way your work is flattening all those barriers of distance, geography, culture, wealth and poverty, drawing us into an ever closer web of friendship, collegiality and communication, ensuring that the resources of experience, curiosity, brainpower, wisdom and insight are used well and put at the service not of privileged elites but of the widest possible audience. It is a singular pleasure to launch the Global Network and to unveil this website which, with the vision and dedication of you and your many colleagues worldwide, will very soon become a key tool inspiring and facilitating collaboration in dental education and ultimately conducive to much healthier relationships, as well as healthier gums and teeth, for many around the globe. http://www.president.ie/index.php?section=5&speech=394&lang=eng
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