5 Questions With
1. What makes you excited to go to work each day?
I love the energy that you feel on a college campus, especially when classes are just getting started in the fall. I also appreciate being in an intellectually stimulating environment where I have opportunities to learn something new every day from my colleagues and students.
2. What’s the biggest challenge facing dental education today?
One of the biggest challenges facing dental education today is faculty shortages. Many dental schools struggle to recruit and retain qualified educators. This problem is grounded by flat or decreased funding for higher education and increased costs. Academic salaries can’t compete with clinical practice. Unfortunately, with the current trends of downsizing the U.S. government, recruiting and retaining experienced educators could be even more difficult in the future due to federal and state funding cuts. Many faculty (and students) depend on federal loan forgiveness programs like PSLF or HRSA’s loan repayment for public health dentists. If these are eliminated, fewer oral health professionals may choose a career in academia due to financial pressures.
3. What’s a major development in your field that’s flying under the radar?
A major development in dental public health is the increasing integration of teledentistry to expand access to care, especially in rural and underserved areas. Teledentistry provides opportunities to bridge the rural care gap, enhance school-based oral health programs and reduce costs by limiting unnecessary in-person visits and allowing remote triage. Additionally, it provides a tool for dental hygienists to work to the full scope of their education and training.
4. If you couldn’t be in dental education, what field would you have chosen for a career?
I would have chosen a career in health care law. I would like to have an opportunity to influence health care and disability policy as well as advocate for disability, workforce and public health reforms, insurance regulations and improved access to oral health care.