Section VIII AUSTRALASIA The Australasian Section is proud to support its President of the College, Dr. Clive Ross CNZM, and welcome 60 new inductees. you to Fellow and Administrative Officer, Dr. Ron Robinson, who handles the day-to-day running of our Section beautifully. At Convocation, we saw the de- parture of Board members Dr. Jen- ny Smyth AM and Dr. John Boyens, and we welcomed new Board Mem- ber and Section Editor, Dr. Petrina Bowden. The post Congress period was one of consolidation of the man- agement and affairs of our Section, as we build to our teleconference in September. We also spent this time preparing for the International Council meeting in Taipei, Taiwan, in November. 3rd International President Dr. Clive B. Ross CNZM was in- ducted to the position of Interna- tional President of the ICD at the 2017 Council meeting, where his attendance was warmly support- ed by Fellows of the Australasian Section. Only two Fellows of Sec- tion VIII have previously served as International Presidents, Gordon Rowell (NSW) in 1978 and Syden- ham Dobbin (NSW) in 2000. Clive is the first Fellow from New Zealand to serve as International President. He has been a Fellow of the Austral- asian Section since 1976. He was President’s Greeting John Owen AM S ixty new Fellows (four in absentia) were inducted at our most recent Convoca- tion and Induction ceremony at the 37th Australian Dental Congress, on May 19, 2017, in Melbourne. This was the second largest induc- tion ceremony in the history of the Australasian Section. Only the 50th anniversary ceremony in Sydney in 2014 was larger, when 59 new Fel- lows were inducted in person.Atotal of 194 Fellows, partners and distin- guished guests joined us to cele- brate these inductees’ exceptional achievements and contributions to our profession and our community. Congratulations to Dr. Jackie Robinson for receiving her Honor- ary Life Membership for her invalu- able service to the ICD, and our Section also extends a great thank elected to the Board of Regents of Section VIII in 2001 and has served continuously on the Board since. Clive has served as an Internation- al Councilor for Section VIII since 2008. The Board and I are certain that he will lead the College superbly, making our Section VIII and all Fel- lows of the College most proud. Our Section is extremely proud of the community involvement of our Fellows and the organizations they have envisaged, developed, supported and lead, which assist many vulnerable communities in our region and in the countries of our close neighbours. Service abroad In the 15 weeks following Convo- cation, my wife Jan and I spent 10 of those weeks, over two separate trips, working with some 53 dental volunteers, along with our Kim- berley Dental Team, in the remote North West of Western Australia. This comes on the back of two weeks in February, volunteering in Tamil Nadu, in Southern India with Equal Health. This very successful visit was led by Fellow Dr. Andrew Heap. Equal Health was co-found- ed by another WA Fellow, Dr. Si- mon Shanahan, way back in 1998. JOURNAL OF THE INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE OF DENTISTS SECTION REPORTS 4 0