On April 29, 2025, the International College of Dentists (ICD) held its second annual Stakeholders’ Day program in Boston, Massachusetts, states a May 27, 2025, ICD press release. Held on the campus of the Harvard School of Dental Medicine, the program and celebratory dinner were funded by Henry Schein. Distinguished guests from a variety of oral health organizations participated in the event, including the 2025 delegates from ICD’s Global Oral Health Leadership (GOHL) Institute, who represented 10 countries; ICD fellows; and prominent industry and academic figures.
Stakeholder’s Day was a key event for ICD’s Global Oral Health Leadership (GOHL) Institute, which is designed to support global leadership in oral health as well as facilitate meaningful discussions that foster collaboration and sustainable public-private solutions. During the event, the 2025 GOHL delegates engaged with thought leaders, innovators, and activists in oral health and other sectors and promoted the GOHL Institute’s objectives to cultivate a global community of practice, lead system change through evidence and innovation, empower transformational leadership, bridge sectors, and catalyze cross-sectoral impact, to interested collaborators.
Stakeholder’s Day began with two panel discussions led by Dr. Marko Vujicic, chief economist and vice president of the American Dental Association Health Policy Institute, and Dr. Greg Chadwick, president of the FDI World Dental Federation and dean of the East Carolina University School of Dental Medicine. During these sessions, they addressed evidence-based advocacy and policy in the face of challenging contexts, interdisciplinary collaboration to achieve system-level change, and actionable steps through innovation and sustainability.
“I feel we’re at the beginning of a ‘golden era’ of oral health internationally,” Dr. Vujicic said during his keynote. “A decade ago, we did not have compelling evidence that investing in oral health, for example, saves money on pregnancy outcomes or reduces healthcare costs among people with diabetes. There is a very strong value proposition for oral health today that we didn’t have a decade ago. There’s significant momentum, and a lot of it has to do with economics. The fact that we can show there is a financial ROI to investing in oral health is really important in policy circles. This ‘golden era’ opportunity for oral health is inconsistent with the status quo financing and delivery models that exist. So, that is the tension I feel the leaders of the profession need to address, a fundamental realignment in what oral health care focuses on.”
Keynote speaker Dr. Hugh Silk, who is a professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, delivered an excellent presentation about leading a pathway to change through curiosity, creativity, and love, in which he shared lessons from his journey of incorporating oral health into overall health to reach more patients. In addition, Dr. William Giannobile, the dean of the Harvard School of Dental Medicine, spoke about the pride of being part of such an important collaborative initiative.
“As we all know, right now is such a challenging time in academia, in education, and in research, so to see a program dedicated to global oral leadership is more important now than ever,” said Dr. Giannobile. “Part of the vision of the Harvard School of Dental Medicine is to transform access to healthcare and advance science to prevent and find cures for oral diseases and conditions, and part of our mission is really to foster that community of diverse global leaders in research, education, and clinical innovation to really integrate medicine and oral health.”
While Stakeholders’ Day showcased the important interdisciplinary approach of GOHL, it also challenged prevailing norms and inspired actionable change in global oral health. “What is truly extraordinary, and I believe we all feel it, is that this is ‘the time,’” said Andrea Albertini, chief executive officer of global distribution and technology for Henry Schein, Inc. “There has never been a more critical time for forums like this. We need open, candid conversations between public and private stakeholders, educators and practitioners, policy makers, and patients because no single sector—not government, not big business, not academia—can tackle the enormous challenges of increasing access to care and positively evolving our healthcare systems alone.”