Dr. Jeanne Sinkford, Director Of The ADEA Center For Equity And Diversity, Receives National Dental Association's 2007 Trailblazer Award

Main Category: Dentistry
Article Date: 24 Sep 2007 - 17:00 PDT

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Jeanne Sinkford, D.D.S., Ph.D., has received the 2007 Trailblazer Award from the National Dental Association (NDA). Only two other Trailblazer Awards have been presented in the history of the NDA. Dr. Sinkford was honored for her distinction of serving as the first female dean of a U.S. dental school (Howard University College of Dentistry), her leadership in developing dental education initiatives, and her work as an advocate for diversity.

The Trailblazer Award is given to exemplars who have created paths for others to follow in clinical dentistry, dental education, community service, organized dentistry, and in the social, political, and economic progress of the profession. Conferred at the NDA's 94th Annual Convention in July, the award was presented this week at an ADEA Board of Directors meeting by NDA President Robin R. Daniel, D.D.S.

"As an innovator in the field for more than 40 years, Dr. Sinkford's contributions are well deserving of one of the NDA's highest honors. Her leadership as Director of the American Dental Education Association's (ADEA) Center for Equity and Diversity has helped to greatly improve access to dental education for underrepresented students in the United States," said ADEA Executive Director Richard W. Valachovic, D.M.D., M.P.H.

Dr. Sinkford's guidance has helped the ADEA Center for Equity and Diversity secure numerous fellowships and grants for underrepresented minorities pursuing dental education and positions in academic dentistry. ADEA's current programs include the ADEA/Johnson & Johnson Healthcare Products/Enid A. Neidle Scholar-in-Residence Program for Women and the Minority Dental Faculty Development Program and Access to Dental Careers Program, both funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. The center is committed to expanding the diversity of dental education and believes that those who populate dental education should reflect the diversity of our society.

Before Dr. Sinkford joined ADEA in 1991 as Director of the Office of Women and Minority Affairs, she served for 16 years as Dean at Howard University College of Dentistry. Prior to her appointment as Dean, she held the Associate Dean post from 1967 to 1974 and was Chair of Prosthodontics from 1964 to 1974. During her career at Howard University, Dr. Sinkford was named to a nine-member panel studying the U.S. Public Health Service Tuskegee Syphilis Study in 1972, and, in 1974, she became the first African American woman dentist inducted into the U.S. section of the International College of Dentists. Dr. Sinkford has played a role in crafting significant reports on the status of minorities in dentistry including the 2004 Sullivan Commission on Diversity report Missing Persons: Minorities in the Health Professions. Currently, she is an advisor to the NDA-GlaxoSmithKline Speaker's Bureau Training Program and Annual Minority Faculty and Administrative Forum.

About the American Dental Education Association

The American Dental Education Association (ADEA) is the voice of dental education. Its members include all U.S. and Canadian dental schools and many allied and postdoctoral dental education programs, corporations, faculty, and students. The mission of ADEA is to lead individuals and institutions of the dental education community to address contemporary issues influencing education, research, and the delivery of oral health care for the health of the public. ADEA's activities encompass a wide range of research, advocacy, faculty development, meetings, and communications like the esteemed Journal of Dental Education, as well as the dental school admissions services AADSAS and PASS.

American Dental Education Association