We at JCO are proud to announce the winner of a new prize, the Eugene L. Gottlieb JCO Student of the Year Award, presented by American Orthodontics. The first recipient is Dr. Krystian Jarosz from Rutgers University, who distinguished himself in a wide field of competitors from orthodontic departments all over the country. He and the 11 other finalists are being profiled in installments on the JCO Facebook page, but Dr. Jarosz's interview appears in this issue as well, along with details of the selection process. We will also be honoring him during the upcoming AAO annual conference in Orlando, Florida. Suffice to say, the graduate orthodontic program at Rutgers has a lot to be proud of in Dr. Jarosz. Although his application and case materials were judged to be the "best" by my colleagues on the JCO editorial board, it was a very difficult decision to reach. It made me, as a senior clinician approaching the end of his career, thankful to see that the specialty is being inherited by such an excellent and worthy generation of upcoming clinicians.
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This award was the brainchild of Phil Vogels, who is JCO's Director of Marketing and Digital Media as well as the grandson of our Senior (and founding) Editor, Dr. Eugene L. Gottlieb. Mr. Vogels spent countless hours working on everything involved in creating a new national award and bringing the competition to a successful outcome, so I want to give him a hearty pat on the back and full recognition. His initial motivation was, presumably and admirably, a sense of immense pride in his distinguished grandfather. Of course, all of us at JCO are proud of Dr. Gottlieb, but the creation of this award was also strongly motivated by a desire to recognize students for excellence in what almost all of us went to school to learn in the first place: how to practice clinical orthodontics in the best way possible. There are already numerous awards given for research; every year, many excellent student and faculty research papers appear in such distinguished journals as the American Journal of Orthodontics & Dentofacial Orthopedics, The Angle Orthodontist, and the European Journal of Orthodontics. These journals do a great job of promoting and publishing orthodontic research, and I deeply admire and respect their editors. I do, however, get a kick out something that I hear at every large orthodontic meeting I attend. Someone will invariably notice my name tag and exclaim, "Oh, JCO! That's the journal I actually read!" I always chuckle, but let's face it: the vast majority of orthodontists are more interested in clinical practice than in research.
JCO was founded in September 1967 as the Journal of Practical Orthodontics (JPO). In our very first Editor's Corner, Dr. Gottlieb stated: "JPO is a journal of orthodontic practice. It was conceived as a meeting place for orthodontists to share their knowledge and experience. While it will not neglect areas of basic information and philosophy of treatment, JPO will concentrate on the treatment of the orthodontic patient and the administration of the orthodontic office."
Over the intervening 49 years, we have adhered closely to Dr. Gottlieb's original vision. Our focus always has been, and always will be, on the treatment of the orthodontic patient and the administration of the orthodontic office. It is only fitting, therefore, that we establish an annual award in recognition of the orthodontic student who has demonstrated the highest level of clinical expertise. It is also fitting that this award is given in recognition of Dr. Gottlieb, in that he has contributed more than anyone else to the world body of literature on the clinical practice of orthodontics and the administration of the orthodontic office.
Allow me to extend my personal, heartfelt congratulations to Dr. Krystian Jarosz, Rutgers University, and all the other competitors in this first annual Eugene L. Gottlieb JCO Student of the Year Award. Job well done! Allow me also to thank our corporate sponsors, American Orthodontics and Dolphin, who made it possible for us to present the winner with a substantial package of materials, services, and travel expenses. We're eagerly looking forward to next year's competition, but it's already obvious that the future of the profession is in very good hands indeed.
RGK
