2023 Distinguished Service Awards

2022 Craig R Proctor, Ralph Binns

Kim Michelson, DDS

Dr. Kim Michelson served with the Utah Department of Health from 2009 to March 2022, striving to improve dental care for all of Utah, especially for the underserved. 12 of his 13 years with them was full–time, where he served in various public health dentistry settings including nine years as the State Dental Director. He worked with CMS, CDC, UDA, the Utah Oral Health Coalition and a variety of other boards and committees. He was a co–author of the report “2015–2016 Oral Health Status of Utah’s Children”. He served as the president of the Salt Lake District Dental Society with the UDA from 2013 to 2014 and served on their board from 2007 to 2014. He is also a Fellow of the Pierre Fauchard Academy. From January 2021 to March 2022, he worked as a Faculty Practice Clinician with the University of Utah School of Dentistry. He currently is employed with the Department of Corrections doing clinical dentistry. Prior to starting his public health dentistry career, he was in private practice for 21 years. He started his career in dentistry after earning his DDS degree from Creighton University and completing a dental general practice residency with the University of Utah School of Medicine and Affiliated Hospitals in 1988.

Duane Orchard, DDS

After graduating from high school in Idaho Falls, Idaho, Dr. Duane Orchard attended BYU with a major in Zoology. He graduated from Northwestern University Dental School in Chicago, Illinois in 1974. Upon completion of his dental education, Duane was commissioned an officer in the United States Army dental corps. His military time was spent at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He and his wife Julie had five children. After serving in the military the Orchards moved their family to Bountiful, Utah where he practiced for 37 ½ years. Dr Orchard was appointed to the Utah State Dental Board 1993–2000. He served on the Western Region Examining Board for 25 years. One year after losing his dear wife, Julie to complications of diabetes, Duane sold his practice. After retirement he served as the interim director of the dental clinic at the Church College of Samoa. The following year he returned to Samoa for two months to lend a helping hand. Dr Orchard went to Mongolia along with Dr. Clyde Larsen, of Price, UT at the request of a local community government to mentor dentists in the community, and to spend half of each day teaching elementary school students dental health and hygiene. Following his return, he met and married Nora Fitzgibbins, who joined him to serve at the clinics in Samoa and Tonga. Their service was cut short because of the Covid pandemic, but Nora said her wildest dreams would not have made her a dental assistant in the South Pacific. Dr. Orchard volunteered as the director of the Pantry Smiles dental clinic sponsored by the Bountiful Food Pantry where he also served as a board member. The Pantry clinic, through the help of volunteer dentists in Davis County and the dental assistant program of Davis Technical College, have provided over $1,000,000 worth of dental care to the underserved in the community. Dr Orchard has 16 grandchildren whom he adores. He loves to spend time traveling through our beautiful state, golfing, fishing, photographing, and painting.