Ronald Wolk, PCSO President 2007-2008

Portrait of a Professional
PCSO President 2007-08
Ronald Wolk, DDS
Calgary, Alberta,
Canada
BY DR. GERALD NELSON, PCSO BULLETIN EDITOR
GN: Ron, tell us a bit about your early life.
RW: I was born in 1951 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, the
youngest of three children. My father, David, and
mother, Clara, were themselves first-generation Canadians children of European immigrant parents from
the late 1800s. My father was a bookkeeper for a
local group of movie theatres that eventually became
aligned with the Famous Players chain. My mother,
along with supporting my father’s private home business, always entrenched herself within charitable and
service organizations.
My school-year haunt was the North End of Winnipeg. We spent the summer at our cottage home on
Lake Winnipeg. Getting to grade school and high
school meant long, cold walks in deep snow. As kids,
playing on the street was our full-time job. I worked
hard to keep up good grades in school, and I was
involved in sports when I could, including track and
field, volleyball, and basketball. One winter sport in
Canada I got involved in at a young age was curling. Through high school I spent many evenings and
weekends in various curling rinks in leagues and
competitive play.
GN: Curling?
RW: Curling is a Canadian pastime played in the winter months with brooms and polished granite stones.
It is like shuffleboard on ice.
GN: How did you get interested in dentistry?
RW: I had a close family friend in the dental supply
business who encouraged me. Then my own orthodontist, Dr. Morley Bernstein, became a mentor for
me. He is a past President of the Canadian Association of Orthodontists.
I attended the University of Manitoba for undergrad
and was accepted into the Faculty of Dentistry to
graduate in the Class of 1974 at the young age of 23.
S U M M E R 2 0 0 8 • P C S O B U L L ET I N
Dr. Ronald Wolk
Those years in dental school are most memorable
for the intense work and wonderful friendships.
Upon graduation, I associated with a high-profile
general practice in North End Winnipeg and started
my own satellite practice in a rural Manitoba community one to two days a week. My work consisted
of mainly restorative and endodontics within the
scope of general practice. I woke up every day
realizing that I was not comfortable doing general
dentistry and my motivation to seek graduate studies
shifted into high gear. Knowing Dr. Bernstein was
enough to want to pursue the specialty of orthodontics. After only four months of practice, I began the
intense application process. One interview took me
to the Graduate Orthodontic Program at the University of Minnesota. I remember walking into the
orthodontic clinic and “it was love at first sight.”
The chairman, Dr. Robert Isaacson, interviewed me,
and I spent two days with the residents at the time.
I began my orthodontic career in 1975 and graduated with a Diploma in Orthodontics in 1977 and a
Masters of Science in Anatomy in 1978.
GN: What was the program at Minnesota like?
RW: The faculty, led by Dr. Isaacson, included
the full-time staff of Drs. Michael Spiedel, Frank
Worms, Richard Bevis, Gerry Cavanaugh and Robert Nemeth. They were all like family in every way.
We were encouraged and mentored as residents and
treated as colleagues from the first day.
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Portrait of a Professional
Ron, all ready for
Alberta’s famous
Calgary Stampede
Good times during dental school in the 1970s.
The clinical program was very practice oriented.
A senior and junior resident and dental assistant
shared three operatories. The patient load for this
team was 150-plus. The didactic program was intense. My classmate and now long-time partner, Dr.
Barry Hoffman, and I often recount the nine-hour intense seminars behind closed doors for the first three
weeks of our program. Dr. Isaacson, the consummate
educator, laid the foundations of our orthodontic
knowledge.
long-term partnership we have to this day — 30
years! At the time, nearing graduation the reality of
choosing a practice location was upon us. Barry was
an American citizen and I was from Canada. The
political situation in the USA was volatile and the
VietNam situation was all too fresh in the mid-’70s.
The booming oil and gas economy of those times was
influencing the Canadian west. Calgary was a young
city − just over 450,000 people − with fewer than
The technique taught at the University of Minnesota was the self-designed “Minnesota Integrated
Technique.” It was essentially an over-engineered
bracket system with the early versions of pretorqued
preangulated bands and 0.018 slot brackets and
vertical auxiliary capabilities. During the years of
my training, Dr. Bruce Epker and Dr. Larry Wolford
were pioneering surgical procedures in Orthognathic
patient management. Our heavy patient load included
many surgery patients. As practitioners we were
quickly comfortable with treating skeletal disharmonies.
GN: Both you and I have long-term practice
partners. How did that develop?
RW: By coincidence, or fate, upon landing in Minneapolis, I met another new resident coming from
Detroit. We became close friends during the residency, and that friendship developed and led to the
Partners for 30-plus
years, Ron Wolk and
Barry Hoffman
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P C S O B U L L ET I N • S U M M E R 2 0 0 8
Portrait of a Professional
Michael and Carly Wolk
Ron’s sons,
Jared and Michael
seven orthodontists. Barry and his wife Linda listened
to us laud the virtues of Canada and the wild western
city of Calgary, Alberta.
Barry and Linda made the bold move and set up
practice in Calgary while I and my wife at the time,
Adele, were pulled back to our roots in Winnipeg. I
set up a small practice with my mentor, Dr. Morley
Bernstein. After only six months, our family situation
allowed us to revisit my decision. One phone call to
Barry in Calgary led to history and our 30 years of
partnership.
GN: Who have been your mentors?
RW: Dr. Robert Isaacson has been a very important
mentor for me. I am certain that he is responsible for
instilling into me a strong sense of professionalism
and a skill set of how to apply a thought process to
approach many orthodontic decisions as well as life
decisions. His guidance remains with me throughout
all these years. I must also acknowledge my own
S U M M E R 2 0 0 8 • P C S O B U L L ET I N
orthodontist, Dr. Morley Bernstein of Winnipeg,
who was among the first of modern day orthodontists in my home city and his success and practice
manner gave me the goals to look up to. My very
own partner, Dr. Barry Hoffman, and I exist in what
I feel is a very symbiotic relationship. I’d say we
tend to mentor each other. Our partnership is built
upon mutual respect and a wonderful friendship.
GN: Are your kids grown now?
RW: In Calgary, Adele and I raised three lovely
children: Jared, 27; Carly, 24; and Michael, 18.
Jared lives and works in Victoria, BC as a mortgage
broker in a growing business. Carly is a professional make-up artist currently living and working in
Vancouver, BC. Michael is a senior in high school,
with aspirations of entering the hotel management
industry.
Calgary, in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies,
is a playground for skiing and hiking. It has over a
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Portrait of a Professional
Ron and his partner, Barry Hoffman, and some of their staff
million people now and has many opportunities available for both cultural activities and active sport.
GN: Tell me about your work with orthodontic
associations.
RW: I have been an active AAO, PCSO and CAO
(Canadian Association of Orthodontists) member for
my entire career. It was in 1991, while co-chairing
our CAO Annual Session in Calgary, that my involvement with organized orthodontics began. Initially,
during those early years I served as Alberta’s Provin-
cial Representative, and later became editor of our
CAO Membership Directory, which resulted in board
positions. I have to give credit to the then-President
of the CAO, Dr. Terry Carlyle, for believing in me
and encouraging me to serve the organization. This
eventually resulted in an executive line position with
the Canadian Association of Orthodontists, culminating in serving as the President of the CAO from
1999-2000. It was during the years leading up to that
position I served also as the provincial representative
of Alberta to the PCSO. Following my term as Presi-
Ron and his
daughter, Carly
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P C S O B U L L ET I N • S U M M E R 2 0 0 8
Portrait of a Professional
dent of the CAO, I was appointed as President of the
CFAO (Canadian Foundation for the Advancement
of Orthodontics) and served there for three years. In
2004 I was called upon to join on the executive line
of the PCSO, leading up to my current position.
GN: As a Canadian, did you become certified by
the American Board of Orthodontics?
RW: I became certified by the American Board in
1990 (recertified in 2006). Achieving my ABO certificate is a bit of a story. I had committed to the process
of case selection and registration with the ABO to
present my cases and do the oral exam for the spring
of 1990. Unfortunately, I was diagnosed with cancer
in the fall of 1989, two weeks after we had our third
child. I underwent surgery and follow up radiation
treatment through that early winter. The last day
of radiation treatment was Christmas Eve, 1989.
That very same evening I was called to my father’s
bedside. He passed on that night. Throughout all
those intense events, I forged ahead and successfully
completed my Board Certification.
My advice for a new PCSO member would be to
enjoy the specialty of orthodontics. The membership
organizations of orthodontics are here to help support
your chosen career. The services offered and the interlinking of others in your profession create a home
base from which you can deliver the best orthodontics to your patients. In order to keep your specialty
current it’s important for you to be part of its vision
by being an active member. My final words would be,
“It’s a wonderful life.”
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S U M M E R 2 0 0 8 • P C S O B U L L ET I N
Ron relaxes with his friend, “Max” (short for Maxilla).
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