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CADE's Rolf Behrents to Receive American Board of Orthodontics Award of Excellence

05/04/2020Media Inquiries

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05/04/2020

The American Board of Orthodontics (ABO) will award Rolf G. Behrents, D.D.S, Ph.D., the 2020 Albert H. Ketcham Memorial Award, the organization’s highest honor. Behrents is a professor emeritus of orthodontics at the Center for Advanced Dental Education (CADE).

Rolf G. Behrents

With a long and distinguished career in orthodontic teaching and research, Behrents continues to teach part-time at CADE. He also serves as editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics, a position he has held since 2014.

Behrents joined Saint Louis University in 2003 as orthodontic program director and executive director of the Center for Advanced Dental Education. He was named the Lysle E. Johnston, Jr., Endowed Professor of Orthodontics in 2011. He retired from this position in 2018.

An active researcher and editorial contributor to numerous books, Behrents is the author of Growth of the Aging Craniofacial Skeleton. Besides being an associate editor and referee and now editor-in-chief of the AJO-DO, Behrents’ editorial experience includes work as an editorial board member for Angle Orthodontist and as a referee for the World Journal of Orthodontics and other publications.

Behrents has lectured extensively in the United States and abroad. He gave the Jacob Salzmann Lecture at the 1992 AAO Annual Session and the John Valentine Mershon Lecture at the 2008 AAO Annual Session.

For the AAO, Behrents was the scientific program co-chairman for three annual sessions: 1998, 2006 and 2011. He was chairman of the AAO Scientific Studies Committee from 1987 to 1991, and chaired the AAO Foundation Planning and Research Review Committee from 1992 to 2003. By virtue of his position with the AJO-DO, he has been a non-voting member of the AAO Board of Trustees since 2014. He has been co-director of the Graduate Orthodontic Residents Program since 1999.

Behrents has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the Louise Ada Jarabak Memorial International Teaching and Research Award from the AAO Foundation (2011), Eugene and Pauline Blair Distinguished Service Award from the AAOF (2007), honorary doctorate from the University of Athens (2001), and the Milo Hellman Research Award from the AAO (1976 and 1985). He also is a fellow of the American College of Dentists and the International College of Dentists, and received the 2018 Callahan Memorial Award from the Ohio Dental Association.

Behrents obtained his bachelor’s degree from St. Olaf College and his dental degree from Meharry Medical College. He completed his orthodontic training and M.S. degree at Case Western Reserve University.

From 1975 to 1978, he held postdoctoral fellowships at the Center for Human Growth and Development at the University of Michigan. He completed his Ph.D. at the University of Michigan.

The Albert H. Ketcham Memorial Award commemorates the achievements of Dr. Albert H. Ketcham. Created by the ABO in 1936, the award is presented annually to an individual who has made a notable contribution to the science and art of orthodontics.

Due to the cancellation of the AAO 2020 Annual Session, the ABO will now honor Behrents at the AAO 2021 Annual Session to be held in Boston, Mass. The ABO is the global leader in orthodontic board certification and sets the standards of care for excellence in orthodontics and dentofacial orthopedics. 


The Center for Advanced Dental Education’s mission is to achieve the highest level of excellence in scholarship and patient care while educating dentists in the specialties of orthodontics (tooth straightening), endodontics (root canal treatment), periodontics (gum disease therapy) and pediatric dentistry. The center aims to serve its students, the profession of dentistry, the community of St. Louis, and the communities in which the graduates of CADE will practice their dental specialty.