The American Board of Orthodontics awards the 2016 Earl E. and Wilma S. Shepard Distinguished Service Award to Dr. Stephen McCullough

The American Board of Orthodontics (ABO) awarded Stephen McCullough, DDS, MS, of Yukon, Oklahoma, the Earl E. and Wilma S. Shepard Distinguished Service Award on Saturday, April 30 at the annual luncheon of the College of Diplomates of the American Board of Orthodontics, which was held in conjunction with the 2016 Annual Session of the American Association of Orthodontists in Orlando, Florida.

The Earl E. and Wilma S. Shepard Distinguished Service Award was established to perpetuate Dr. Earl Shepard’s outstanding accomplishments and to show appreciation for his many contributions as the first executive director of the ABO and those of his wife, Wilma, who was highly involved with her husband’s efforts to fulfill the ABO’s goals. This award recognizes an individual for outstanding dedication and advancement of the ideals and mission of the ABO.

Dr. Stephen McCullough received his dental degree from the University of Oklahoma in 1979, and his master’s degree in orthodontics from the University of Michigan in 1981. Dr. McCullough then returned home to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and began teaching full time as a founding faculty member of the new University of Oklahoma graduate orthodontic program.

“During my time at the University of Michigan, the faculty, most of whom were board certified, continuously encouraged me to seek board certification after I got into practice,” Dr. McCullough said. “They were all excellent clinical orthodontists and role models, so that became a goal of mine from early on in my career. From the time I began my teaching career, I have tried to do the same for my students."

In 1984, Dr. McCullough opened his private practice in Yukon. “At that time, I joined the Tweed Study Club in Oklahoma. All of the members were board certified so I had even more encouragement and role models for board certification,” said Dr. McCullough, who became board certified in 1990 and voluntarily recertified in 2002.

Dr. McCullough has been an examiner for the ABO since 2007. “Being an examiner has only strengthened my support for board certification,” Dr. McCullough said. "It is important that we continue to encourage young orthodontists to seek certification not only for their own personal growth and satisfaction but also for the future of our specialty.”

For the past 32 years, Dr. McCullough has taught part time at the University of Oklahoma where he is now a clinical professor. Because of this, Dr. McCullough has taught every orthodontic student who has attended the University of Oklahoma graduate orthodontic program.

In addition to his practice and teaching, Dr. McCullough is the assistant course director of the Charles H. Tweed Foundation Study Course and is on the Foundation’s Board of Directors. He is a member of the American Association of Orthodontists, the Southwestern Society of Orthodontists and the Oklahoma Society of Orthodontists. He served as president of the Oklahoma Society of Orthodontists in 1989-1990.