Participants at the July 23 meeting of the Student Strategy Working Group in Ottawa. From left: Dr. Bruce Ward, president of the British Columbia Dental Association, Monique Bouchard, CDA's coordinator of education, Jessica El-Murr, University of Montreal, Dr. Benoit Soucy, CDA's director of clinical and scientific affairs, Brian Zwicker, University of Alberta, and Dr. Colin Jack, CDA Board of Directors.
CDA has created a Student Strategy Working Group, with representation from dental students, recent graduates, provincial dental associations, the Association of Canadian Faculties of Dentistry and CDSPI. The working group conducted a survey of dental students and new graduates in March 2010 to find out which types of programs, services and products they value and would like to receive from their professional organizations.
Over 1300 students and recent graduates received the survey. Results were reviewed by the working group's Survey Analysis Team at CDA headquarters in July, with the goal of making recommendations to the CDA Board of Directors and corporate members on how students can be effectively integrated into the CDA new membership model.