The ADA would like to warmly congratulate the following dentists, four of whom are members, In recognition of their considerable services to Australian dentistry and to the health and wellbeing of the wider Australian and global community, these dentists were recognised as part of the 2020 Australia Day honours.
Member (AM) in the General Division of the Order of Australia
Dr Helen Diana McLean
Honoured for significant service to dentistry and to professional associations, Dr McLean served as President of the South Australian branch in 1989, and as a Councillor from 1986-1991. Chairman of the Dental Auxiliaries Dental Workforce and Education Committee from 2006-2012 and as a committee member from 1996-2016, she has also served in the role of Chairman of the Australian Dental Training Advistory group since 2010. Dr McLean has also provided her professional expertise to the Australian Society of Orthodontists, the Dental Advancement Society Inc., Australia Vietnam Volunteers Resource Group (volunteer dentist) and a range of other governmental and academic organisations.
Medal (OAM) of the Order of Australia in the General Division
Associate Professor Ian Donald Hewson
Honoured for service to dentistry, Associate Professor Hewson served as the Director of Dentistry at The Alfred Hospital Melbourne from 2002 to 2017. He is also a Fellow of the International College of Dentists (since 2003) and a current member of the World Federation of Haemophilia Dental Committee. Currently serving as a Consultant Forensic Odontologist at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine, he was a member of the Victim Identification Team following the 1983 and 2009 bushfires in Victoria, working as a forensic dentist. A volunteer teacher in South America and Vietnam, Associate Professor Hewson presently serves as a consultant to the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit, The Royal Melbourne Hospital.
Dr Robert Lavis
Honoured for service to the international community through dental programs, Dr Lavis has practised in Hobart, Tasmania for 43 years as well as establishing and providing dental and dental hygiene services through the Himalayan Spiti Dental Program which is delivered through two clinics in Himachal Pradesh, Northern India. He is also the creator and former owner of the Tasmanian Fudge Company which was purchased by the State Government to employ and give experience to the unemployed and disadvantaged.
Dr Stephen George Papas
Honoured for service to the community and to dentistry, Dr Papas was in private practice from 1957 to 1989. He has been a member since of the ADA since 1954, serving as a foundation member and former president of the Cadmus Society, a continuing education group in Queensland (formed in 1962). He is also closely involved in the Alumni Friends of the University of Queensland and in the university itself, in addition to serving in roles for the Rotary Club of South Brisbane and Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron. Dr Papas is the recipient the Golden Jubilee Award (Alumni Friends of the University of Queensland, 2017), the Service Award Medal (ADA, Queensland, 2004) and a Certificate of Achievement, Lord Mayor of Brisbane.
Dr Meg Simmons
Honoured for service to oral health in outback communities, Dr Simmons joined the Cental Australian Oral Health Service in 1974 where she served as the Clinical Manager, Oral Health, a position she retired from in 2018 and as a senior dentist at the Flynn Drive Dental Clinic. Among her awards and recognitions, she received the Outstanding Regional Supervisor Awards (Flinders NT Supervisors Awards, 2018) and the Chief Ministers Medal for Outstanding and Meritorious Service in the NT public sector (2011).
