ADEAGies Foundation Announces Esteemed Three Who Exemplify the Highest Standards in Oral Health and Dental Education

November 15, 2024

Nov. 1, 2023—The ADEAGies Foundation® announced today the recipients of the 2024 William J. Gies Awards (Gies Awards) for Vision, Innovation and Achievement.

The Gies Awards, named after dental education pioneer William J. Gies, Ph.D., honor ADEA members, intuitions or public/private partners whose work represents the highest order of Innovation, Achievement or Vision and Leadership in oral health and dental education.

“The tireless work of the 2024 Gies Awardees has resulted in lasting change, extraordinary advances and vital solutions to current and emerging challenges facing oral health and dental education,” said Marsha Pyle, D.D.S., M.Ed., President of the ADEAGies Foundation and ADEA Senior Scholar in Residence. “The profound impact and visionary leadership of these luminaries will be revered throughout our next century.”

The three honorees were chosen by a distinguished panel of industry experts, including the ADEAGies Foundation Board of Trustees.

The 2024 Gies Awards recipients are:

Alison F. Doubleday , Ph.D., M.A., M.S.
Gies Award for Innovation

Nader A. Nadershahi, D.D.S., M.B.A., Ed.D.
Gies Award for Vision and Leadership

Santa Fe Group
Gies Award for Achievement 

The 2024 Gies Awards will be presented on March 11, 2024, during the ADEA Annual Session & Exhibition Gies Awards Watch Party Celebration.


About the ADEAGies Foundation®: The ADEAGies Foundation is uniquely positioned to uncover and promote innovative, future-ready oral health initiatives that advance dental education and elevate the dental professions. We do so by supporting grants, programs, scholarships and special initiatives that develop leaders in academic dentistry and ensure a robust future faculty. As the philanthropic arm of the American Dental Education Association (ADEA), the Foundation draws upon ADEA’s vast expertise and network of dental deans, allied program directors, faculty, students, residents and fellows, corporate and philanthropic partners to bring its agenda to life.  

About William J. Gies, Ph.D. and the Gies Report: The ADEAGies Foundation embodies the life work of Dr. William J. Gies, Ph.D. (1872–1956), who pioneered and advocated for a model of dental education rooted in science and focused on advancing the public welfare. Key findings from his seminal 1926 work, Dental Education in the United States and Canada, are still relevant, including a call for improved medical-dental cooperation, the expansion of dental research and a call to action for educators with the vision, courage and imagination to advance “necessary changes in [dental] education” to “meet the demands for health care in the future.” Dr. Gies was a biochemist and a founder of the College of Dental Medicine at Columbia University. The ADEAGies Foundation is uniquely positioned to identify and promote innovative, future-ready oral health initiatives that advance dental education and elevate the dental profession.

About ADEA: The American Dental Education Association (ADEA) is The Voice of Dental Education. Our mission is to lead and support the health professions community in preparing future-ready oral health professionals. Our members include all 80 accredited U.S. and Canadian dental schools, more than 800 allied and advanced dental education programs, more than 55 corporations and approximately 15,000 individuals. Our activities encompass a wide range of research, advocacy, faculty development, meetings and communications, including the esteemed Journal of Dental Education®, as well as the dental school application services ADEA AADSAS®, ADEA PASS®, ADEA DHCAS® and ADEA CAAPID®