For those of you who don’t know me very well, I’d like to share a little bit about my background. I am a general dentist in the suburbs of Denver, Colorado where I live with my wonderful husband Brian and my brilliant, handsome and athletic 13-year-old son, Christopher. We love living in Colorado and enjoy taking advantage of all the outdoor activities that it has to offer. Weekly we enjoy hiking biking skiing climbing the 14ers or golfing. To the disbelief of many we only have to shovel snow 2-3 times a year because it melts so quickly. I enjoy sports and serve as team dentist for professional sports teams in Colorado and not to mention all of my son’s many sports teams!

During my career, I have been active in a number of volunteer positions in dentistry. While serving locally in the states of Oklahoma and Colorado as President of the Academy of General Dentistry, many doors were opened and soon I became involved at a national level.

I have served, by appointment, on the AGD’s executive board to Membership Council then Council on Annual Meetings as co-chair for the AGD’s national meeting in Denver in 2006. Currently, I serve on their Public Relations Council and as national spokesperson for the AGD where I had the honor of representing the AGD on their annual national radio-media tour as the spokesperson. Wherever needed, I always volunteer on a local level as chair for our CDA component of the ADA as well as for KIND and speaking to various school groups about dental career and the profession of dentistry.

I share this information to illustrate that getting involved - volunteering in our profession - has always been very important to me as well as educational. I hope to bring the best practices of all these organizations to the AAWD.

I originally became involved with AAWD while in dental school at the University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine, because of my instructor Dr. Kay Thompson. Much like Dr. Barbara C. Kay, our 2009 Lucy Hobbs Taylor/Woman Dentist of the Year, Dr. Thompson was the only female in her dental class. And, due one dynamic ball of fire, and past president, Dr. Cissy Furusho, I was encouraged to take a more active role in the AAWD. I will certainly do everything in my power to continue the tradition of excellent service to AAWD by our volunteer leaders.

After serving on our AAWD board for the past 5 years, I have come to appreciate that AAWD is truly a special organization with an exceptionally gifted staff and members. AAWD exists so that we, as women dentists, can support and inspire each other. “We, the AAWD, promote women dentists in every facet.”

Laura J. Murcko, DMD
2010 AAWD President