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2. Professor Emeritus Katherine Vig

Professor Emeritus Katherine Vig Receives Ketcham Memorial Award

June 2009

Dr. Katherine Vig, a professor emeritus and former chair of the College of Dentistry's Division of Orthodontics, has been selected as the 2009 recipient of the prestigious Albert H. Ketcham Memorial Award, presented annually by the American Board of Orthodontics. This award recognizes “an individual who, in the judgment of the award committee, has made a notable contribution to the science and art of orthodontics.” Vig is the first woman to receive the Ketcham Memorial Award since its inception in 1936.

An orthodontic educator for more than 40 years, Dr. Vig received her dental degree from the Dundee Dental School at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. Her orthodontic training was at Eastman Dental Hospital in London, where she served on the faculty for ten years before moving to the U.S. in 1976 to join the orthodontic faculty at the University of North Carolina (UNC).

Vig served as an orthodontic faculty member at UNC until 1984, when she accepted a position at the University of Michigan as an associate professor of orthodontics. At that same time, she became an American citizen and obtained a Master of Science degree in anatomy and cell biology. In 1990, Vig joined the University of Pittsburgh where she was the Chair of the Department of Orthodontics, the Director of the Graduate Orthodontics Program, and the Associate Director of the Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Center. Dr. Vig moved to The Ohio State University in 1994 to chair the College of Dentistry's Division of Orthodontics. Her work has included teaching, research and clinical practice at the College and in the pediatric dentistry clinic at Nationwide Children's Hospital, where she treated patients with cleft lips and cleft palates.

Craniofacial anomalies are of special interest to Vig, who is a past president of the American Cleft Palate/Craniofacial Association and a current member of the British Craniofacial Society. “Treating cleft lip/palate and craniofacial birth defects is a very team-oriented process,” Vig said. “One works with plastic surgeons, ear, nose and throat specialists, oral and maxillofacial surgeons, and speech therapists to manage this special group of patients. I’ve always felt very strongly that children with cleft lips and palates needed the best help we can give them, and I’ve felt great compassion for them and their families.”

Dr. Vig’s distinguished career has included a strong and ongoing commitment to international education and research initiatives. She recently served as the external examiner for an orthodontic program in Singapore that included reviewing curriculum content for the provost of the National University of Singapore. During the past three years she has also participated in an international task force for the Academy of Finland in Helsinki for which she served as a grant applications reviewer, while also helping to set priorities for funding research.

Dedicated to education, clinical practice and research, Vig is equally involved in sharing her expertise as a leader in numerous professional organizations. She has served in an array of positions that include the following: president of the IADR’s Craniofacial Biology Group; reviewer and consultant for the American Journal of Orthodontics and the Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Journal; scientific reviewer for the British Journal of Orthodontics; and the symposium chair for the International Congress on Cleft Lip/Palate.

Dr. Vig’s outstanding, decades-long career has culminated with this year’s honor of being the first woman to receive the highly competitive Albert H. Ketcham Memorial Award. Commenting on this honor, Vig said, “I feel very humble in comparison with the previous recipients of this award and the tremendous contributions they’ve made to the orthodontic profession.” She added, “I must also share the credit for this award with all those mentors and colleagues, as well as the residents, staff, and alumni who have contributed to any success I may have achieved.”