In 2015, the American Association of Orthodontists (AAO) established a new award, the Lifetime Achievement Award for Orthodontic Research. Previous recipients include Dr William R. Proffit (2017), Dr Lysle E. Johnston, Jr (2018), and Dr Peter H. Buschang (2019). Nominations for the next award were solicited that same year.

Nominees are intended to be those who have made substantial contributions to the science related to the specialty of orthodontics. Their research should be considered original, outstanding, and innovative. Additional consideration is given to those who have established a legacy of research and discovery that is inspiring to the academic community. Likewise, it is important that the nominee has produced information that is useful, or potentially useful, in advancing the practice of orthodontics. Nominations from AAO members were received via the AAO Web site under the category “Awards.” Any AAO member can access the material and upload the required materials to place a person in nomination, and AAO members can express their support for those already nominated. In addition, the editors of other orthodontic journals were invited to place a name in nomination. Nominations were also solicited from the AAO constituents and the chairs or program directors of the orthodontic programs in the United States and Canada. The nomination materials were evaluated by select members of the AAO Council on Scientific Affairs, previous award winners, and others, and then presented to the members of the AAO Board of Trustees for their deliberation and decision.

It is an honor to confirm that Dr Anne Marie Kuijpers-Jagtman was selected to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award for Orthodontic Research for 2020 ( Fig ). She will receive her award in Atlanta, Georgia, at the AAO Annual Session, May 1-4, 2020, where she will also make a presentation. At the conclusion of her presentation, the recipient of the 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award for Orthodontic Research will be announced.

Anne Marie Kuijpers-Jagtman.

By any method of accounting, it must be concluded that Dr Kuijpers-Jagtman is an outstanding professor who has dedicated her competencies and enthusiasm in conducting research, clinical practice, and teaching for the overall betterment of the specialty of orthodontics and the patients we serve. She earned her dental degree, certificate in orthodontics, and PhD degree in medical sciences from the University of Nijmegen in the Netherlands. She extended her training in Laboratory Animal Science, the Systematic Review Development Program at the Centre for Statistics in Medicine at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, and the Certification course on Regulations and Organization for clinical investigators (BROK). By 2009, she established full teaching qualification for undergraduate- and postgraduate-teaching and supervision of bachelor’s and master’s projects.

From 1980 to 2013, she was the head of the Cleft Palate Craniofacial Centre at Radboud University Hospital. She conducted a part-time private practice in Nijmegen (1982-2006). From 1987 to 1991, she served as an Associate Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Medicine of the School of Dentistry at the Catholic University Leuven, Belgium. In 1992, she was chosen as the DMO-endowed Chair Professor of Orthodontics in the Department of Orthodontics at the University of Nijmegen. From 1995 to 2014, she served as a full-time professor and Head of the Department of Orthodontics and Craniofacial Biology at Radboud University Medical Centre in Nijmegen. After retirement she continued as Adjunct Professor at Universitas Indonesia in Jakarta (Indonesia) and at the University of Bern (Switzerland). Recently, she joined the orthodontic department of the University of Groningen (The Netherlands) as senior scientist.

As a teacher and director of the 4-year full-time postgraduate program in orthodontics at Radboud University, she believed in student-centered learning and modern teaching and assessment procedures. In her own words, “I love teaching, I challenge postgraduates to think and postgraduates challenge me. I want them to be critical, maybe skeptical, and serious about the scientific background of their profession.” On a broader front, she contributed to the improvement of orthodontic teaching in the Netherlands by serving as Chair (2009-2012) of the National Committee for the Revision of the Postgraduate Education in Orthodontics and was one of the founders of the European Orthodontic Teachers’ Forum and of the Network of Erasmus Based European Orthodontic Programs (NEBEOP). She served as President of NEBEOP from 2008 to 2017. The main purpose of NEBEOP is the advancement of orthodontic training in Europe, to establish educational standards, to establish methods of quality assessment, and to promote collaboration among the orthodontic programs in Europe.

As Dr Kuijpers-Jagtman points out, “My main research drive has always been to perform translational research that in the end will enhance our clinical performance. I strongly believe that we only can reach that goal combining basic biological and clinical disciplines, resources, and research methods.” She adds, “I am a strong proponent of evidence-based orthodontic treatment in which the 3 components of the concept are balanced: scientific evidence, clinical experience, and patient preferences.” As to the product of her work, she has produced over 400 publications for the specialty. The areas of her interest focus on the mechanobiology of orthodontic tooth movement and 3-dimensional imaging, but most of all she has conducted a great deal of important research that focuses on cleft lip and palate.

As might be expected, her efforts are appreciated all over the world. Dr Kuijpers-Jagtman has delivered over 400 lectures in 41 countries. Her named honorary lectures (10) include the Sheldon Friel Memorial Lecture of the European Orthodontic Society and the World Federation of Orthodontists Honorary Lecture. She has also won many awards (17 in all) and has been recognized for her work. Notably, she was named the 2017 European Orthodontic Society Distinguished Teacher. She received the 2019 AAO Foundation’s Louise Ada Jarabak Memorial International Teachers and Research Award, the AAO Foundation’s highest recognition for international academic contributions.

As an extension of her efforts in teaching and research, she has influenced many others including her research collaborators and her students. She has collaborated with colleagues associated with biology, cell biology, molecular biology, biomedical engineering, health technology assessment, and others. She has successfully supervised 53 PhD students. This, in turn, has inspired and encouraged the academic careers of many of her graduates.

Her career also includes many examples of her service to others including those within her university, her country, and internationally. This is particularly the case regarding the World Federation of Orthodontists, the European Orthodontic Society, and NEBEOP. She has supported the academic and clinical communities in such a way that her influence will last in the future. Although drifting into retirement, she continues to address the needs of patients by continuing as the chairperson of the Cleft Care Foundation Indonesia (Yayasan Peduli Bibir Sumbing), a charity foundation that provides free surgical and orthodontic care for patients with cleft lip and palate in underprivileged areas of Indonesia and India.

One her most notable examples of service to the specialty of orthodontics was her work as editor-in-chief for the journal Orthodontics & Craniofacial Research. She was eminently successful in this endeavor and served in this leadership capacity for 12 years; this is one of her greatest legacies.

The curriculum vitae of Dr Kuijpers-Jagtman provides ample evidence that her career has been extremely productive and important. We offer our respect and gratitude in the form of the Lifetime Achievement Award for Orthodontic Research for 2020.

Non nobis solum nati sumus. [Not for ourselves alone are we born.] —Marcus Tullius Cicero, Roman statesman, orator, lawyer, and philosopher (106-43 BC)