The idea for a workshop of experts on appropriate pathways to oral health care for elderly people came from Professor Iain Pretty and Angus Walls in the UK. The goal of the conference and workshop was both to share current best-practice with a large audience, and to collate and develop the ideas into a single care-pathway that might have broad applications globally. I grasped the idea with enthusiasm, and even more so given the willingness of Colgate Palmolive in association with the IADR Geriatric Oral Research Group (GORG) to sponsor the workshop and this special issue of Gerodontology, which has been made available to download free of charge. Finally, it was the wish of everyone involved with the organisation of the workshop that it would be offered as a fitting tribute to Professor Asuman Kiyak who died in May of 2011. Asuman Kiyak was a colleague and friend with whom I worked closely for almost 30 years. She was an inspiration to anyone interested in dental geriatrics. I saw her at work for the first time during a workshop on ageing and oral health that she organised at the University of Washington in the 1980s. She had called upon her wide network of colleagues in North America and beyond to explain the sorry state of oral health among the expanding global population of older people. It was an eye-opener for me, and I'm sure for everyone who attended. We connected from there in a collegial relationship that brought another workshop to light on Vancouver Island sponsored by the GORG. However, unlike the bleak epidemiological outlook of the UW workshop, the focus on Vancouver Island was towards positive ageing, and Asuman's tireless enthusiasm again infiltrated the academic proceedings. Subsequently, we obtained an NIH grant for a large randomised clinical trial, and, yet again, I observed with much admiration a mature researcher and administrator at work. Asuman was a psychologist specialising in gerontology with a particular interest in oral health. She was a professor in the University of Washington's Departments of Community Dentistry and Oral/Maxillofacial Surgery, and an adjunct professor in the Departments of Psychology and Architecture, and a Codirector of the university's Institute on Ageing. Her cross-disciplined appointments allowed her to influence the development and education of oral health care from many perspectives ranging from orthognathic surgery for young adults to mobile dental clinics for homeless elders. From my observations over 30 years, she exuded energy and imagination in very many directions. The academic community, especially those of us who knew her well, have lost a wonderful colleague and friend, but we are fortunate that she has left us a helpful legacy of explanations and ideas that continues to influence our thinking and the welfare of older people. It is very appropriate therefore that this workshop was dedicated to her. The author has no potential conflicts to declare.