Robin Miller, RDH, MPH, has been employed by the Vermont Department of Health’s Office of Oral Health since 1998. She began her career with the State as a Dental Health Educator and was promoted to Oral Health Director in 2015. Robin serves as Secretary on the Executive Board of the Association of State and Territorial Dental Directors and is the chairperson of the ASTDD’s Basic Screening Survey Community of Practice. In addition to her work with ASTDD, she is a former board member and current member of the Vermont Public Health Association and was the 2016 recipient of the VT Dental Hygienists’ Association Outstanding Dental Hygienist award.
Debora Teixeira received a degree in Dentistry from the University of São Paulo, Brazil, and a Master of Education focusing on Adult Education and Public Health from the University of Vermont. Prior to relocating to the United States, she worked for 12 years as a Public Health Dentist for the São Paulo State Health Department, providing dental care and oral health education primarily to underserved children and adults in community health centers and public schools. In addition, Debora has worked in private practice and taught Oral Diagnosis to first-year dental students. Currently, Debora works for the Vermont Department of Health, where she serves as the Oral Health Systems Administrator and as the 802 Smiles Network of School Dental Health Programs Coordinator.
Burton L. Edelstein DDS MPH, Columbia University Professor Emeritus of dentistry and public health, is a pediatric dentist who has dedicated his clinical, research, teaching, and advocacy career to improving the oral health of socially disadvantaged children. Edelstein practiced in Connecticut for 21 years before engaging full time in pediatric oral health policy as Congressional Health Aide to the US Senate Minority Leader, Commissioner of the federal Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC), Founder of the DC-based Children’s Dental Health Project, and Chair of Population Oral Health at Columbia. Since 2008, Edelstein and his team have been awarded over $9M to develop and test a novel pediatric dental caries prevention and disease management program called MySmileBuddy.
The MySmileBuddy Program and its educational technology supports value-based care and interdisciplinary delivery models, addresses social determinants of health, builds on established cariology science and behavior-change theory, and holds promise to enhance oral health equity through early intervention and redistribution of resources.
Edelstein is a graduate of SUNY Binghamton, SUNY Buffalo dental school, and the Harvard School of Public Health. He trained at SUNY Upstate Medical Center and Boston Children’s Hospital. His work has been nationally recognized by associations of pediatric (AAPD) and public health dentistry (ASTDD, AAPHD, MSDA), dental students (ASDA), dental societies (ACD, ICD, CDS, CSDA), the dental research community (FNIDCR), foundations (Shils, NYSDAF, OHA) and educators (Maryland, Harvard, Columbia, ADEA).
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