Dr. Carla A. Evans Selected for the 2020 Dale B. Wade Award of Excellence in Orthodontics by The American Board of Orthodontics

 

The American Board of Orthodontics (ABO) has named Carla A. Evans, D.D.S., D.M.Sc., of Chicago, Ill., as the recipient of the 2020 Dale B. Wade Award of Excellence in Orthodontics. 

The Dale B. Wade Award recognizes an exemplary senior clinician and board-certified orthodontist who demonstrates exceptional dedication to orthodontics through clinical excellence and/or devoted teaching in the image of Dr. Dale B. Wade, an ABO past president. Due to the cancellation of the 2020 AAO Annual Session where this award is traditionally presented, Dr. Evans will now be honored at the AAO 2021 Annual Session in Boston, MA. No additional recipient for the award in 2021 will be identified. 

Now a clinical professor in the Department of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics at Boston University, Dr. Evans was professor, department head and orthodontic specialty program director at the University of Illinois at Chicago for 22 years. She also is a well-known lecturer and has been active in various national committees on electronic health records in dentistry. 

Dr. Evans graduated from the University of Michigan School of Dentistry in 1969. She then had the opportunity to be a research fellow and clinical scholar in orthodontics at the Harvard University School of Dental Medicine. She obtained her D.M.Sc. degree and certificate in orthodontics from Harvard in 1975. 

She continued on the faculty at Harvard from 1975 to 1993. She was acting head of the department from 1989 to 1993, succeeding Dr. Coenraad F.A. Moorrees. At Harvard, she conducted research in craniofacial abnormalities that was funded by the National Institutes of Health. She also served on the programs advisory committee of the National Institute for Dental and Craniofacial Research. 

In 1994, she joined the University of Illinois at Chicago as department head and associate professor. She was elevated to full professor in 1998 and continued to lead the department through 2016. She also was a professor of bioengineering in the College of Engineering. She received various NIH, corporate and military research grants, and was a regular participant on NIH special study sections. 

Dr. Evans has been a leader in the development of electronic health records capabilities for dentistry. Since 2005, she has chaired, co-chaired or been a member of four working groups of the American Dental Association Standards Committee on Dental Informatics. She has represented the AAO since 2009 on the ADA Systematized Nomenclature of Dentistry (SNODENT) Committee; she also is a member of the ADA SNOMED/SNOMED CT Dental Clinical Reference Group. In 2014, she was a founding member of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Forensic Odontology Subcommittee, and participates in the NIST Facial Identification group. 

She was a member of the AAO Council on Orthodontic Education from 2001 to 2009 and chaired the council from 2006 to 2008. As chair, she initiated creation of the Society of Orthodontic Educators, which now has more than 700 members. In addition, she also oversaw the writing and submission of the application to the Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA) that resulted in a subspecialty for the field of orthodontics. There are now six CODA-approved “Clinical Fellowship in Craniofacial and Special Care Orthodontics” programs. Dr. Evans was recognized for her achievements by the Society, naming its meeting at this year’s AAO Annual Session the 2020 Carla A. Evans Educational Leadership Conference. 

Dr. Evans gave the Edward H. Angle Lecture at the 2010 AAO Annual Session. Other awards include the ADA Standards Committee on Dental Informatics Volunteer Award in 2011. 

Certified by the ABO since 1996, she is a member of the Eastern Component of the Edward H. Angle Society, the College of Diplomates of the ABO and the World Federation of Orthodontists. 

She has approximately 200 publications covering the topics of normal and abnormal facial growth and development, and application of computer imaging to orthodontic diagnosis and treatment planning. She has been associate editor and editor of journals including the World Journal of Orthodontics, and editorial board member of the Journal of Dental Research and others. 

On receiving the award, Dr. Evans said, “It has been my good fortune to have many opportunities in life and to have unwavering support from my spouse, Denis, and my parents. I truly appreciate being selected by the ABO for the Dale B. Ward Award of Excellence in Orthodontics and being able to join the list of exceptional orthodontists who have worked so hard to elevate the standard of orthodontic practice for the benefit of the public.”