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The American Board of Dental Public Health (ABDPH) is comprised of six volunteer Board Members who work to advance the profession of Dental Public Health.  ABDPH  is sponsored by the American Association of Public Health Dentistry (AAPHD). Learn more about our current Board Members below. 

American Board of Dental Public Health
Officers and Directors:

Mark Macek, DDS, DrPH
President

Dr. Mark Macek has been a Diplomate of the ABDPH since 1999. He earned his DDS from The University of Nebraska Medical Center, his MPH from The University of Illinois at Chicago, and his DrPH from The University of Michigan. He also earned a certificate in applied epidemiology from the CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service while serving at the National Center for Health Statistics. He is currently a professor in the Department of Dental Public at The University of Maryland School of Dentistry where he also serves as Assistant Dean for Curriculum Innovation and Scholarship. His research interests include oral health disparities, dental care utilization, and health literacy.

Susan McKernan, DMD, MS, PhD
Vice President-Auditor

Dr. McKernan is an Associate Professor of Preventive and Community Dentistry at the University of Iowa College of Dentistry and Dental Clinics. She is a graduate of the University of Florida College of Dentistry, received an MS in Dental Public Health from the University of Iowa, and completed a PhD in Oral Health Services Research from there. She is currently an Associate Director of the University of Iowa Dental Public Health Graduate Program. Dr. McKernan is a health services researcher and dental educator.

Peggy Timothé, DDS, MPH
Secretary-Treasurer

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.

Mary Tavares, DMD, MPH
Director

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.

Renée Joskow, DDS, MPH, FAGD

Director

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 Arevalo, DDS, ScD

Director-Elect

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.

Scott L. Tomar, DMD, MPH, DrPH
Immediate Past President

David P. Cappelli DMD, MPH, PhD is the Vice President/Auditor of the American Board of Dental Public Health. He is Professor and Associate Dean for Community Engagement at the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV), School of Dental Medicine, received both his DMD and MPH from the University of Pittsburgh. He was awarded his PhD in epidemiology from the University of Texas Health Science Center-Houston, School of Public Health. Dr. Cappelli completed advanced dental education in dental public health from the UT Health-San Antonio (UTHSCSA), Department of Community Dentistry and was awarded Diplomate status by the American Board of Dental Public Health. Dr. Cappelli is the co-founder and Chair of the Board of Directors of the American Institute of Dental Public Health (AIDPH).

Prior to his tenure at UNLV School of Dental Medicine, Dr. Cappelli served as the Director of the Dental Public Health Residency Program at UT Health-San Antonio. With over 30 years in dental academics, he taught pre-doctoral and post-doctoral dental students and dental hygiene students. He co-authored a textbook in 2008, Prevention in Clinical Oral Health Care, describing risk-based prevention strategies. Dr. Cappelli developed an extensive career in research, education and service. He has an extensive funding history, awarded grants from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), National Institutes of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), from foundations, and state and local sources. He published 50 articles, 80 abstracts and 9 book chapters. Dr. Cappelli held leadership positions in several national and state organizations, including President of the American Association of Public Health Dentistry (AAPHD). He served as a CODA site visitor for the specialty of Dental Public Health. He completed the ADEA Leadership Institute and was awarded the UTHSCSA Presidential Teaching Excellence Award in 2015 and was inducted into the UTHSCSA Academy of Master Teachers in 2016. In 2016, Dr. Cappelli was awarded the University of Texas (UT) Regents Outstanding Teaching Award.

Kelly Braun, RDH, MSDH
Executive Director

Kelly Braun, RDH, MSDH, serves as the Executive Director of the American Board of Dental Public Health. Serving in this role since 2022, Kelly handles the organization’s day-to-day operations and is the primary point of contact for the Board.
A Registered Dental Hygienist and a Public Health Dental Hygiene Practitioner, Kelly also works for the Pennsylvania Office of Rural Health is an adjunct faculty member for Concorde Career College’s dental hygiene program. Kelly holds an A.S. and a B.S. in Dental Hygiene (BSDH) from the Pennsylvania College of Technology. She obtained an M.S. in Dental Hygiene (MSDH), with an emphasis on education, from the University of Bridgeport in 2013. Kelly completed the National Rural Health Association’s Fellows program in 2021.

Dental Public Health (DPH) is one of the dental specialties recognized by the American Dental Association (ADA). The American Board of Dental Public Health (ABDPH) is the certifying board for dental public health specialists.

Contact Us

19 Colonnade Way, 
Suite 117, PMB#184
State College, PA 16803-2319

Email: executive.director@abdph.org
Phone: 570-478-1225

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