This award honors women who promote a positive image for women in dentistry and those who help to advance AAWD's mission to be the recognized resource for connecting and enriching lives of women dentists.

A member of AAWD since the early 1980's, she practiced for 20 years in Medford and Winchester, MA while serving as an Assistant Clinical Professor at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine. In 1981, she received her doctorate from Tufts University summa cum laude. She was the first woman in the history of the dental school to be both class president and class valedictorian. In 1998, Dr. O'Loughlin received a master's degree in Public Health and Health Care Management from Harvard University. She is the former President and CEO of Dental Service of Massachusetts.

On June 1, 2009, Dr. O'Loughlin became the ADA's Executive Director/Chief Operating Officer, the first female executive director in the ADA's 150-year history.

For more than 25 years, Dr. O'Loughlin has been an active member in the American Dental Association and the Massachusetts Dental Society. She is also a member of the International College of Dentists, the American College of Dentists, the Pierre Fauchard Academy, and the Tufts University School of Dental Medicine Alumni Association. She currently serves on the Board of Trustees for Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts.

Dr. O'Loughlin received her award during AAWD's Annual Meeting and Conference Awards Dinner, on Friday, June 25, 2010 at the Wyndham Chicago.

AAWD congratulates the following recipients of the Colgate Research Awards for 2010:

Syeda Bakhtawara University of Pennsylvania
Poonum Bharal, Virginia Commonwealth University
Angela Coomes, University of Texas
Bethany Crawford, Ohio State University
Elizabeth Duplessis, University of Kentucky
Raha Ghafurian, University of Pennsylvania
Tamara Jones, Texas Agricultural and Mechanical University System
Ejvis Lamani, University of Alabama Birmingham
Melissa Roden, University of Alabama Birmingham