Kent G. Palcanis, DDS, MSD, Professor Emeritus in the UAB Department of Periodontology and a leader in academic dentistry, was one of twelve 2024 honorees named to the Alabama Healthcare Hall of Fame (AHHOF) Class of 2024.
Palcanis joins nearly 200 prominent Alabama healthcare leaders and innovators who have received the honor since it was established in 1998, including former UAB presidents and School of Dentistry deans Joseph F. Volker, DDS, PhD, and Charles A. “Scotty” McCallum, DMD, MD.
“I am incredibly honored to be named to the Alabama Healthcare Hall of Fame,” says Palcanis. “To be included in the company of others who have received this recognition is certainly one of the most meaningful and personal honors I have ever received.”
During his long and accomplished career on the UAB faculty, from 1987-2008, Palcanis served as the dental school’s associate dean for academic affairs from 1987-2007 and as an associate scientist in the UAB Minority Health & Research Center. In addition to periodontal research, his publications include academic subjects spanning continuing dental education, evidence-based dentistry, and competency in the practice of dentistry.
Along with his academic responsibilities, he was very involved in organized dentistry, and in his specialty. He served as President of the Richmond Dental Society, and the Birmingham District Dental Society, president of the Alabama Dental Association, and on the Alabama Dental Association Board of Trustees. He has served on the Board of Trustees for the American Academy of Periodontology and as Chairman of their Education Committee and as the Periodontics representative on the ADA Commission on Dental Accreditation.
After retiring from UAB, Palcanis was appointed as the Executive Director of the American Board of Periodontology, a position he remained in for 10 years, retiring in 2018.
His honors include Omicron Kappa Upsilon, the IADR Hatton Award, the Clinical Research Award, Special Citation and Presidential Award from the AAP, the Access Recognition Award from the ADA, Most Excellent Fellow from the Alabama Dental Association, and membership in the American and International Colleges of Dentists and the Pierre Fauchard Academy.
Although his dental degrees were from other universities, Palcanis says his strongest ties are with UAB and its periodontology department. As a result, he has two endowed professorships that bear his name, the Kent and Phoebe Palcanis Endowed Professorship in Periodontology and the Weatherford/Palcanis Endowed Professorship in Dentistry.
”I have the pleasure to count Dr. Palcanis as one of my mentors,” says Nicolaas Geurs, DDS, MS, dean. “He has been an incredible leader innovating our curriculum and shaping the education of countless students. He is one of the greats in academic dentistry and is well deserving of this prestigious honor.”
The Class of 2024 was honored on August 10 at an AHHOF awards luncheon in Montgomery.
About the Alabama Healthcare Hall of Fame
The Alabama Healthcare Hall of Fame was founded in 1997 with the purpose of recognizing those persons, living or deceased, who have made outstanding contributions to or rendered exemplary service for healthcare in the State of Alabama. It is operated under the authority of the Alabama Healthcare Hall of Fame and Museum, a non-profit 501-C-3 Alabama corporation.