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AAPHD Announces Launch of DPH Reference Materials Committee

AAPHD is pleased to highlight the launch of its Dental Public Health Reference Materials Committee, a newly created standing committee of AAPHD that is dedicated to advancing excellence in dental public health education and practice. 

The charge of the DPH Reference Materials Committee is to develop and maintain a curated list of essential dental public health references that aligns with the competencies of the Dental Public Health specialty. This effort supports board examination candidates, program directors, and AAPHD members by providing a trusted, competency-based foundation of key resources. 

The committee is responsible for developing and maintaining a reference list that will be:

  • Organized by DPH competency
  • Released at NOHC 2027 and updated annually thereafter
  • Available to all AAPHD members through the members-only section of the AAPHD website

To ensure relevance and alignment with board certification standards, the committee will work in consultation with the American Board of Dental Public Health (ABDPH). Through this initiative, AAPHD reaffirms its commitment to supporting education and lifelong learning in dental public health by providing members with high-quality, relevant, and accessible reference materials. We are grateful to the inaugural members below for sharing their time and expertise toward this effort.

Members:

  • Chair: Sangeeta Gajendra, Eastman Institute for Oral Health 
  • Vice Chair: Lyubov Slashcheva, Apple Tree Dental
  • Mary Tavares, Boston University
  • Sohini Dhar, University of Texas at San Antonio
  • Megan Cloidt, Jacobi Medical Center
  • Kimberly Raleigh, University of Detroit Mercy 
  • Tammy Duangthip, The Ohio State University 
  • Darien Weatherspoon, University of Maryland 
  • Scott Tomar, University of Illinois Chicago
  • Linda Niessen, Kansas City University 
  • Gloria Mejia, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 
  • Mona Abdelrehim, University of Toronto, Canada 
  • Anneta Bitouni, Texas A&M University 
  • Dalia Meisha, King Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia

 NOHC 2026 Registration is Now Open!

AAPHD Educational Series January Webinar - The Dental Quality Alliance State Medicaid Dashboard: Advancing Measurement to Improve Care Access and Quality

Register Today!

Date: January 29
Time: 12-1pm CT
Topic: The Dental Quality Alliance State Medicaid Dashboard: Advancing Measurement to Improve Care Access and Quality
 
Who Should Attend: Anyone interested in quality measurement and improvement in dentistry, and/or dental care access and quality in state Medicaid programs. 
 
Learning Objectives: 
  1. Learn about the Dental Quality Alliance's processes for measure development and maintenance
  2. Navigate the DQA State Oral Healthcare Quality Dashboard to evaluate state and national trends in Medicaid dental care access and quality 
  3. Identify ways that dental quality measurement can be used to support quality improvement efforts
Featured Speakers: 
Dr. Jill Boylston Herndon, PhD
Owner, Principal Consultant
Key Analytics and Consulting, LLC (self-employed)
 
Jill Herndon is an economist with extensive experience in research, policy analysis, program evaluation, project management, and education. She works with non-profit and for-profit organizations, government agencies, and academic institutions on measuring and evaluating healthcare delivery system performance with a focus on oral health care. She’s successfully secured grant funding from federal, state and private agencies; authored and co-authored more than 100 journal articles and technical reports; and delivered more than 100 presentations for a wide range of audiences.  Dr. Herndon has served as the primary methodology consultant for the Dental Quality Alliance, guiding dental experts through the quality measure development process: concept design, measure testing, validation, implementation, and monitoring. She works routinely with large datasets of national Medicaid claims data, as well as a range of other datasets, to help dentists and the broader oral health community better understand the state of the U.S. dental care system.  
 
Dr. Julie Reynolds, DDS, MS
Associate Professor
University of Iowa College of Dentistry
Julie Reynolds is President-Elect of AAPHD, immediate past Chair of the Dental Quality Alliance, a board-certified specialist in dental public health, and health services researcher. Her research focuses on aspects of dental care access and quality, including access and utilization for people with Medicaid as well as dental quality measurement and improvement in the context of a patient-centered dental home. 

AAPHD Foundation Scholarships & Grant Applications Being Accepted through February 2!

The AAPHD Foundation is the charitable arm of the AAPHD and provides monetary support for dental public health education and research.

2026 Small Grant Award

The Small Grant program provides two separate grants. One grant is for up to $5,000 for projects which will be completed within a year and a second grant for up to $10,000 for projects which will be completed within 18 months of notification, that serve to generate data that can be used to apply for larger grants that can move science, policy, and practice to the “next step” toward enhancing oral health.

Application & More Information

2026-2027 Herschel S. Horowitz Scholarship - Dentist

$10,000 Scholarship to support dentists to pursue an MPH degree accredited by the CEPH or an advanced education  program in dental public health accredited by CODA.

Application & More Information

2026-2027 Herschel S. Horowitz Scholarship - Dental Hygienist

$7,500 Scholarship to support hygienists to pursue an MPH or equivalent degree accredited by the CEPH or other unique educational opportunities in dental public health.  It is expected payment will be made to the school to offset tuition expenses. 

Application & More Information

Special Issue for JPHD

Title: Sexual and Gender Minority Oral Health: Advancing Equity and Inclusion

Guest Editors: Fabio Leite and Tamanna Tiwari

Call description: We invite the submission of original research, brief reports, methods papers, reviews, and perspectives that advance understanding of LGBTQIA+ (sexual and gender minority) oral health, with particular attention to population-level disparities and intersectionality. Manuscripts may address, but are not limited to: measurement and reporting of sexual orientation and gender identity in surveys and clinical records; patient-experience outcomes (including dignity and discrimination); innovations in education and training; community-engaged and participatory research; health services and delivery models (coverage, benefits, teledentistry, workforce development); implementation science and quality improvement; ethical considerations and inclusive terminology; and global perspectives, including those from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

Abstract submission: Add a title and author names and affiliations. Abstract should be 250 words consisting of four paragraphs, labeled Objectives, Methods, Results, and Conclusions. These sections should describe the problem being addressed in the study, how the study was performed, the salient results (without statistical tests), and what the authors conclude from the results. Submit the abstract to JPHD Abstract Submission

Send your queries to: [email protected]; [email protected]


Key Dates:

• Call for Abstracts: October 15, 2025
• Abstracts due: January 6, 2026
• Full-manuscript invitations: up to February 5, 2026
• Manuscripts due: until June 1, 2026
These are the final deadlines, but reviews and invitations will proceed on a rolling basis—so early submissions are encouraged.

To keep momentum strong, we’ll begin reviews as soon as proposals are received and reviewers confirmed, ensuring that accepted papers move promptly to the editorial team for publication.

Contact: Fabio Leite - [email protected]

Tamanna Tiwari – [email protected]