Drs Peter Duke and Amit Gurbuxani were awarded ADAWA Honorary Life Membership at last year’s Annual General Meeting. We spoke to Peter and Amit about about the recognition.
Dr Peter Duke joined the Australian Dental Association WA branch in 2002 after relocating to Perth from England.
“I was a young associate dentist and was considering purchasing a share of the practice I was working in. I felt that there was so much more dentistry and business aspects of dentistry that I hadn’t been connected with,” he recalls. “I needed a supportive group of people to help me start to negotiate through the complexities and challenges of running a dental practice and wanted the reassurance that the information I was getting was correct.”
In addition to joining a respected group that could guide him through a successful career, Peter also saw becoming a member as an opportunity to meet with other dentists.
“When I first arrived in Perth, I didn’t know a single dentist,” he says. “I formed all my professional contacts through people I met at work and through ADA functions.”
In addition, he has been a member of Council since 2011. “Being on Council has allowed me to have a bigger vision and awareness of where dentistry is at and the challenges that the profession is facing,” he says. “I find it very rewarding when at council meeting, we problem solve and open new pathways to better serve our members and patients.”
Peter was both humbled and surprised to be the recipient of an Australian Dental Association WA Branch Honorary Life Membership at last year’s Annual General Meeting.
“I had never anticipated that I was worthy of such recognition,” he says. “I feel very honored and humbled by the experience and it has given me the realisation that when you commit to doing things that you are passionate and enthusiastic about you can make a difference.
“My journey with ADA has been one where each day I have worked as a hands-on practitioner in a busy general practice whilst managing the responsibilities of owning practice. As a result, I experienced the reality of being a general practitioner and business owner and I bring my feedback to council.”
Peter says being an ADAWA member means he feels very connected to the community of dentistry. “As an individual working in a small practice, I associate with two or three dentists a week,” he says. “Through ADA I can associate with the whole of the dental community and that to me means so much by connecting with like-minded people on like-minded journeys in life.
“Secondly, which is what I depend on, is that I get the best of the information through ADA, which brings me peace of mind and allows me to provide the best care for my patients.”
He encourages other ADAWA members to be engaged with their association. “This is our community and to be fully engaged it is about using the available resources, reading correspondence, and trying to physically attend some events. The reality of online courses is you don’t meet a lot of people, and you gain so much more than just the information at courses and events in-person.
“I am always very grateful for all the opportunities I have had through ADA to further myself as a practitioner and being on council the opportunities have allowed me to further myself as a person,” he adds.
Dr Amit Gurbuxani joined the Australian Dental Association WA branch around 2010 when he moved to Australia.
After finishing his tenure as ADAWA President last year, he was humbled to be awarded an ADAWA Honorary Life Membership at October’s Annual General Meeting.
“The life membership was a very big honour,” he says. “Most importantly, it means for me that I now get to do a life-long service for members,” he says. “It has shown me that being President was not the end of the line; I now get to give back for the rest of my life to the association.”
Amit adds it was an honour to receive the award on the same evening as Dr Peter Duke.
“If you look back at the past Honorary Life Membership recipients, most are past ADAWA Presidents,” Amit says. “It was a great honour to receive this award at the same time and on the same stage as Peter because, despite not being a President, Peter has given back to the association in so many ways. The recognition shows that it is not only the people whose faces are upfront being recognised, but also those working behind the scenes.”
When asked what it means to be an ADAWA member, Amit says to him, it means being part of a community. “It means being there for each other when things are hard and also means celebrating with each other when things are good,” he says. “I think being an ADAWA member means the peace of mind that if things get tough, the tough will get going because ADAWA is there with you.
“I can hand on heart tell you that any member who has needed us in times of strife they will know about it, whether Aphra education, health fund audits, item code queries or membership services. These are just some of the things we provide as members. If you need just one of these, your membership value is already in place.
“The ADAWA is a joint effort from staff, along with each and every member of our board and the committee members who put their hand up year after year to come and volunteer without expecting anything in return,” he adds. “I often hear from people: ‘You are too busy’ but the truth is it is busy people who get the jobs done."
“Every member needs to be involved in their association because the association will be nothing without them.”
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