This year, at AAOSH’s 5th Annual Scientific Session, I was honored and humbled to receive the Lloyd Rudy, MD award for oral-systemic health leadership. Dr. Lloyd Rudy was a dear friend and mentor to me, and I am proud to follow in his footsteps.

One of the purest enjoyments of life is connecting with true friends, especially those of us with a common interest. As a member of AAOSH I have been blessed with so many of these great friendships. I had the pleasure of becoming great friends with Lloyd.

Dr. Lloyd Rudy is considered one of the most important cardiac surgeons of all time. He was involved with one of the most important discoveries in the history of cardiology. In the late ’70s, Dr. Rudy performed the surgery that determined most heart attacks and strokes are caused by the fibrin clot that forms in and is released from an inflamed artery around the heart. His report, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, forever changed the world. Each and every one of us, our families, and our friends have been helped by Dr. Rudy.

At an AAOSH event a few years ago, Dr. Rudy told me he had performed nearly 8,000 open heart surgeries, and over 1,000 valve replacement surgeries. Of the valve replacement surgeries, all were caused by oral disease except one.

I can’t tell you how proud I am to have received this award. We are changing the world. We are saving lives. And we’re just getting started!