Proffit Receives Jarabak Award

William Proffit, Kenan professor and chair of the orthodontics department, will receive the Louis Ada Jarabak Memorial Teachers and Research Award at the opening ceremonies of the 100th American Association of Orthodontics, the 5th International Orthodontic Congress and the 2nd Meeting of the World Federation of Orthodontists this weekend in Chicago. The Jarabak award was established in 1983 by Joseph Jarabak to honor his late wife. The award, from the American Association of Orthodontics Foundation, recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions to orthodontic teaching and research. Proffit has dedicated his career to teaching and his publication, Contemporary Orthodontics, is consider the ultimate orthodontic textbook.

Proffit said he prefers teaching seminars, "a small group of bright people who are led to discover, rather than being told how it is. My attitude is that if I get you to figure it out for yourself, you will have learned it in a way that you wouldn't if I just told you."

He is a 1959 graduate of the UNC School of Dentistry. He also received a doctorate in physiology from the Medical College of Virginia and a master's degree in orthodontics from the University of Washington. Before becoming chair of the orthodontics department at the UNC School of Dentistry in 1975, Proffit served as chair of pediatric dentistry at the University of Florida and chair of orthodontics at the University of Kentucky.

His many honors and awards include the 1994 Norton M. Ross Award for Excellence in Clinical Research from the American Dental Association and the 1987 Merit Award from the National Institute of Dental Research. He has published numerous scientific papers and has written four books.

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