Dr. Susan McKernan is an Associate Professor in the Division of Dental Public Health, University of Minnesota School of Dentistry. At the University of Minnesota, she directs the predoctoral Rural Dentistry Career Track. She also directs a post-doctoral rural dentistry fellowship for dentists and dental therapists in the State of Minnesota. Dr. McKernan is a graduate of the University of Florida (BS, DDS) and received an MS in Dental Public Health and PhD in Oral Science from the University of Iowa. Her research focuses on the role of dental workforce composition and distribution in alleviating oral health disparities, especially for low-income and rural populations.

Dr. Peggy Timothé, a native New Yorker, attended New York University as an undergraduate and for dental school. She completed the Advanced Education in General Dentistry (AEGD) residency program at the Lutheran Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY. She later received the Master of Public Health degree from the Harvard School of Public Health and completed the Dental Public Health (DPH) residency at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, GA. She is board certified in the specialty of DPH and has extensive experience in academic and clinical dentistry, community dental programs, and research. Her expertise includes pre-doctoral curriculum development and improving dental care delivery models. Dr. Timothé is currently the program director of the DPH residency at the Texas A & M University School of Dentistry, and Principal Investigator on several state and federal community-based programs.

Dr. Mary Tavares is the Program Director for the Dental Public Health Advanced Graduate Program and a Clinical Professor at the Boston University Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine. She is also a Senior Clinical Investigator at The Forsyth Institute in Cambridge, MA. A graduate of Tufts University School of Dental Medicine, she received an MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health and a Certificate in Dental Public Health from Boston University Goldman School of Dental Medicine. Dr. Tavares is a Corresponding Member of the Faculty at Harvard School of Dental Medicine. She is a Diplomate of the American Board of Dental Public Health and currently, the Director-Elect on this board.

Dr. Tavares’ research looks into the connection between systemic and oral health, with a particular focus on obesity and diabetes. She is the current Principle Investigator of the Kuwait Healthy Lifestyle Study that, previously under Dr. Max Goodson, followed a cohort of children for 10 years, collecting blood and saliva samples to correlate with changes in BMI and diabetes status.

Dr. Renée Joskow is a dentist and medical epidemiologist and a Diplomate of the American Board of Dental Public Health (ABDPH). She graduated with honors from Columbia University’s dual-degree- Doctor of Dental Surgery and Master of Public Health program and completed both a hospital-based General Practice Residency and NIH’s Dental Public Health (DPH) Residency. She spent the first half of her professional career combining clinical care and public health – teaching and mentoring students and residents as an Assistant Professor of Dentistry at Columbia University and Attending Staff/Dentist at two hospitals. Dr. Joskow concurrently maintained a private dental practice and a quality assurance/quality control consulting business working with several healthcare entities.

After more than a decade in the academic, corporate, and clinical sectors, Dr. Joskow joined the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as an Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) Officer, or “disease detective”- where she performed numerous outbreak investigations, surveillance activities, and clinical research. As a PHS officer, her federal assignments have spanned five agencies including the Office of the Surgeon General (Medical Readiness Manager/Director of Training and Education), Department of Homeland Security (Senior Medical Epidemiologist), National Institutes of Health (NIH, Dental Research Officer- Clinical Translational Science program), and ten years as the Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) Chief Dental Officer. She recently returned to NIH as the Senior Advisor to the NIH/NIDCR Director, Acting Director of the Office of Science Policy and Analysis, and Director of the DPH Residency and Research Fellowship Program. She is a servant leader and has held numerous leadership roles in public health and dental organizations. Some examples include Chair, Federal Services Section of the American College of Dentists; Chair, Dental Professional Advisory Committee; Commissioned Officers Association Board of Directors; and three terms (elected by her peers) as the PHS Delegate to the American Dental Association. Dr. Joskow has been recognized throughout her career for her contributions including two Surgeon General’s Exemplary Service Medals, the Association of State and Territorial Dental Directors Distinguished Service Award, and two awards honoring dental public health luminaries – Hershel S. Horowitz Oral Health Research and Policy Award, John P. Rossetti Mentor of the Year Award.

Oscar is the Director of the Department of Dentistry and the Pediatric Dentistry Residency Program at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital. He earned his dental degree at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá, Colombia. Oscar holds a doctoral degree in Dental Public Health from Boston University, a certificate in Pediatric Dentistry from the University of Puerto Rico, and masters degrees in Health Care Management and Health Care Finance from Temple University. He is a diplomate of both, the American Board of Dental Public Health and the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry. He is a past Chair of the Oral Health Section of American Public Health Association.

The Bio for Dr. Gina Thornton-Evans is coming soon.