ABOUT THIS YEAR’S EVENT

The Lucy Hobbs Project 4th Annual Celebration takes place Thursday, June 2, and Friday, June 3, in Dallas. The festivities begin Thursday evening with a reception at the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Gardens; the awards ceremony follows the next day at the Hyatt Regency, beginning with breakfast and registration at 7:30 a.m. For more information, please visit TheLucyHobbsProject.com.

BEST OF BOTH WORDLS

Welcome speaker Irene Marron-Tarrazzi isn’t just newly elected to the board of the ADA — she’s a periodontist whose inspirational tale encompasses success across two distinct cultures and languages.

“As women we naturally carry many responsibilities,” Dr. Marron-Tarrazzi says. “I hope that, as Lucy Hobbs did, I leave my footstep in the sand by encouraging other women to run independently for leadership roles at the national level.”

The welcome speaker at this year’s Lucy Hobbs Celebration, Dr. Marron-Tarrazzi embodies that potential, able to draw on her own story to inspire young women looking to pursue a career in dentistry. Now a periodontist in private practice in Miami, Dr. Marron-Tarrazzi hails from Venezuela; she received her DMD in 1996 from Universidad Central de Venezuela in Caracas. Four years later, she graduated from the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill with a master’s in science and a certificate in periodontology. (In 2003, she earned a DMD from Nova Southeastern University in Florida.)

She is deeply enmeshed in professional organizations in and around south Florida, having served as president of both the South Florida District Dental Association and the Greater Miami Dental Association. In her new role on the ADA’s board, she’ll review institutional policies and make recommendations to the organization’s governing body, the House of Delegates, about how the ADA can best promote oral health nationwide.

“Being part of the ADA board has been an incredible experience,” she says. “I hope that this will serve as an inspiration to others to get involved and promote change.”

IRENE MARRON-TARRAZZI, a board-certified periodontist in Miami, specializes in dental implants and treatment of periodontal disease. In addition to her work on the board of the American Dental Association, she is a visiting assistant professor at Nova Southeastern University. For more information about her and her practice, please visit BrickellPerio.com.