{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.hydesmith.senate.gov/tribute-dr-heber-simmons-jr", "TRIBUTE TO DR. HEBER SIMMONS, JR.", "2021-06-07", "2021", "2021-06", "Republican", "Senate", "MS", "Cindy Hyde-Smith", "H001079", "www.hydesmith.senate.gov", "hydesmith", "https://www.hydesmith.senate.gov/newsroom", "scraper", "Congressional Record Vol. 167, No. 98\n\n(Senate - June 7, 2021) PDF\n\nMrs. HYDE-SMITH. Madam President, the American Academy of\n\nPediatric Dentists, AAPD, last month named Dr. Heber Simmons, Jr., of\n\nJackson, MS, as its 2021 Pediatric Dentist of the Year. I commend him\n\nfor his decades of service and for the significant contributions he has\n\nmade to the dental profession. His lifetime commitment to the specialty\n\nof pediatric dentistry has helped advance children's health in\n\nMississippi and around the country. Dr. Simmons' many years of clinical\n\npractice, his dedication to improving academic dentistry, and his\n\npassion for public policy make him a deserving recipient of the\n\nPediatric Dentist of the Year honor.\n\nDr. Simmons received his dental degree from the University of\n\nTennessee and completed his pediatric dentistry training there after\n\nserving our Nation for 3 years in the U.S. Army Dental Corps. Following\n\nhis training and military service, Dr. Simmons practiced for 57 years\n\nin Jackson before retiring recently from active practice. His passion\n\nand dedication have made him a national leader in dentistry, proven by\n\nhis past presidencies of the AAPD, the American Academy of Dental\n\nPractice Administration, the Pierre Fauchard Academy, and the\n\nMississippi Dental Association. Furthermore, he received the AAPD\n\nDistinguished Service Award in 1994 and the Ann Page Griffin\n\nHumanitarian Award in 2011. For many years, he served on the Board of\n\nTrustees of the American Dental Association, ADA, serving as a\n\nspokesperson for the ADA from 1981 to 2019. In this role, he was\n\nfeatured on nationally televised programs such as \"60 Minutes\" and\n\n\"Good Morning, America.\"\n\nDr. Simmons currently serves as a special consultant to the AAPD\n\nBoard of Trustees after serving as the academy's congressional liaison\n\nsince 1997. As AAPD Congressional Liaison, he helped educate Members of\n\nCongress and their staffs concerning oral health issues for children,\n\ntestified before Congress, and served in a key leadership role in AAPD\n\nadvocacy efforts. This includes helping to allocate more than $158\n\nmillion for pediatric dentistry to the title VII program at the Health\n\nResources and Services Administration. For this work, Heber was awarded\n\nan AAPD Presidential Citation in 2001, and more recently, his alma\n\nmater, the College of Dentistry at the University of Tennessee Health\n\nScience Center, recreated an endowed professorship in his name. Last\n\nyear, at the AAPD Pediatric Oral Health Advocacy Conference, Dr.\n\nSimmons was the keynote speaker and received another Presidential\n\ncitation in recognition of and appreciation for his tireless and\n\ndedicated national advocacy for his profession and the oral health of\n\nAmerica's children.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:57:00Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.hydesmith.senate.gov/tribute-dr-heber-simmons-jr"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5334559138864279, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}