DentaQuest Foundation

Harold D. Cox, MSW
Boston University School of Public Health
Mr. Cox is the Associate Dean for Public Health Practice at the Boston University School of Public Health. Previously, he was the Chief Public Health Officer for Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he was responsible for managing all aspects of the City Health Department from public health planning and service delivery to regulatory activities.

Mr. Cox has more than 25 years of professional experience in direct services, administration, and advocacy in a variety of public health settings. Prior to the Cambridge post, he served as the Director of Client Services at the AIDS Action Committee, and held several positions serving the disabled population. He is the former President of the Massachusetts Public Health Association, a member of the Massachusetts Public Health Council, and member of the Boston Public Health Council. He joined the DentaQuest Foundation Board in 2006.

Fay Donohue
Dental Service of Massachusetts
Ms. Donohue is President and CEO of Dental Service of Massachusetts (DSM). Prior to serving as President and CEO, Ms. Donohue served as President, COO, and EVP of Delta Dental Plans of Massachusetts. Before joining DSM, she served as Vice President of Chartwell Home Therapies and Vice President of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts.

Ms. Donohue serves on the Board and Executive Committee of Operation A.B.L.E., the Board and Executive Committee of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, the Boards of the Delta Dental Plans Association, the Board of Associated Industries of Massachusetts, and the Board and Audit Committee of American Dental Partners, Inc. Ms. Donohue serves on the Board and as Chairman of the Audit Committee of the National Initiative for Children’s Health Care Quality (NICHQ). Prior board service includes the National Association of Dental Plans and Camp Fire Boys and Girls where she served as President of the Board. Ms. Donohue joined the DentaQuest Foundation Board in 2008.

Chester W. Douglass, DMD, PhD
Harvard University School of Dental Medicine
Dr. Douglass is Professor Emeritus of Oral Health Policy at the Harvard University School of Dental Medicine and Professor of Epidemiology at the Harvard University School of Public Health. Prior to that, he was Associate Professor of Health Policy and Management at the University of North Carolina School of Public Health. Dr. Douglass received his DMD from Temple Dental School in Philadelphia and his PhD from the University of Michigan.

Dr. Douglass is a member of the American Dental Association, the American Association of Dental Research, the American Dental Education Association, and the Massachusetts Public Health Association. He joined the DentaQuest Foundation Board in 2000 and has served as its chair from 2001 to 2011. Dr. Douglass also serves on the Board of Health Resources in Action, MA, and is the Chairman of the American Boychoir School in Princeton, NJ.

Neil B. Epstein, DMD, MA
Pediatric Dentist, Retired
Dr. Epstein attended Rutgers University, received his DMD from the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine, and holds a certificate in Pediatric Dentistry and a Master’s degree from Columbia University. He spent his career as a pediatric dentist in Western Massachusetts.

He is a member of the American Dental Association, the Valley District Dental Society, the American Society of Dentistry for Children, a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, and the American Academy of Dentistry for the Handicapped. Dr. Epstein is a past member of the Dental Service of Massachusetts Board of Directors and served as its chairman from 2002 through 2007. Dr. Epstein has been a member of the DentaQuest Foundation Board since 2002. Dr. Epstein had faculty appointments at Columbia University School of Dental Surgery, Boston University Dental School, and Tufts University.

Caswell A. Evans Jr., DDS, MPH
University of Chicago at Chicago, College of Dentistry
University of Illinois in Chicago, Health Research and Policy Centers
Dr. Evans was the Executive Editor and Project Director for Oral Health in America: A Report of the Surgeon General, released in May 2000. He later directed the development of the National Call to Action to Promote Oral Health, released in April 2003.

Dr. Evan’s role as Associate Dean for Prevention and Public Health Sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and his prior role as the Director of the National Oral Health Initiative within the office of the U.S. Surgeon General put him at the center of oral health discussions at the national level for the past decade.

Prior work as Director of Public Health Programs and Services in Los Angeles and as Director of the County Division of the Seattle-King County Department of Public Health in Washington State give Dr. Evans local and state-level perspectives. He recently joined the Illinois State Board of Health as well as the Chicago Board of Health. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Ortho S.A. Sprague Institute, a Chicago-based, health-only philanthropy that supports the beginning stages of health-related projects (asthma, childhood obesity, and oral health initiatives).

Dr. Evans is a past president of the American Public Health Association and founder of the Association’s Faith Community Caucus, and has served on the board of the National Association of County and City Health Officials. He is a diplomat and past President of the American Board of Dental Public Health and a past President of the American Association of Public Health Dentistry. He was recently recognized with the Gies Award for Achievement as a Dental Educator by the Gies Foundation of the American Dental Education Association.

A hands-on change agent, Dr. Evans believes education is a key requirement for change. He is currently involved in the modification of curriculum for the University of Chicago’s College of Dentistry, requiring students participate in multiple four-week practicums in local communities and in Guatemala and other global underserved areas. Dr. Evans joined the DentaQuest Foundation Board in 2009 and became Vice Chair in 2011.

Ralph Fuccillo
DentaQuest Foundation
As President of the DentaQuest Foundation and advisor to the DentaQuest Institute since 2006, Mr. Fuccillo has guided the growth of both organizations into reliable partners in oral health solutions. A seasoned leader in the non-profit sector, Mr. Fuccillo has a lifelong career in health and human services, education, and organizational development. An advocate for disease prevention and health promotion, his work focuses on the social determinants of health, policy development, and behavior change to support and promote oral health and reduce preventable illnesses.

Mr. Fuccillo carries his collaborative leadership approach to national and local organizations through Board service on the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship Program, Elderhostel, the Massachusetts Dental Society Foundation, and the Neighborhood Health Plan, and as a convener of the Funders Oral Health Policy Group. A past President of the Massachusetts Health Council, he has served on the AIDS Action Committee Board of Directors and the Harvard School of Public Health Prevention Research Center of the National Community Committee of the CDC Prevention Research Center Program. Mr. Fuccillo has been a Visiting Lecturer at the Harvard Divinity School and a lecturer on health and philanthropy at other colleges, universities, and professional conferences. An advocate for the underserved and the work of community health centers, Mr. Fuccillo serves on the Dimock Community Health Center Board of Visitors. He is the former Executive Director of the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation and the former Associate Director of The Medical Foundation. He holds a Master’s degree from Fordham University and a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Massachusetts.

Shepard Goldstein, DMD
Endodontist
Dr. Goldstein graduated from Tufts University School of Dental Medicine and received certification in endodontics at the Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia in 1970. Later that year, he joined Endodontic Associates in Framingham and Marlboro, MA, and became a faculty member of the Harvard School of Dental Medicine in the Endodontic Department, where he continues to teach today.

Dr. Goldstein has taken an active role in organized dentistry over the years. In addition to serving on and chairing committees for the Yankee Dental Congress, he was General Chairperson of Yankee Dental in 1995 and served as President of the Massachusetts Dental Society from 2002 to 2003. More recently, he has been a member of the Mass Dental Foundation. From 2007 to 2008, Dr. Goldstein served as President of the American Association of Endodontists.

Dr. Goldstein is a Diplomate of the College of Diplomates of the American Board of Endodontists where he currently serves as secretary. He joined the Board of the DentaQuest Foundation in 2005. Dr. Goldstein continues to practice endodontics; he presently lives in Boston with his wife, Carole, and enjoys his five grandchildren in his free time.

Marion Kane, Executive Director
Barr Foundation, Retired
Ms. Kane recently retired as the Executive Director of the Barr Foundation, a private family foundation serving the greater Boston area. The Foundation was designed around a unique strategic premise – that foundations are really in the knowledge business rather than in the dollars business. Applying this principle has meant designing a foundation that centrally positions knowledge creation and sharing, and transitioning/aligning staffing, programming, and grantmaking practices to support knowledge-based goals.

Prior to joining the Barr Foundation in 2000, Ms. Kane lived in Maine where she helped start the Maine Community Foundation, later serving as President. She also was involved in founding the Maine Grantmakers Association and the Maine Grants Information Center, which promote the development of philanthropy in Maine and serve the funding and nonprofit communities.

Ms. Kane was a founding member of the Board of the DentaQuest Institute and joined the DentaQuest Foundation Board in 2009. She also serves on the Board of Dental Service of Massachusetts.

Donald J. Kenney
EquiServe, Inc., CEO, Retired
As the retired Chairman, President, and CEO of EquiServe, Mr. Kenney has been involved in applying technology to a process-oriented business. With facilities across the United States, EquiServe provided stock transfer services for 1,000 companies and 25 million shareholders.

With over 20 years in the banking industry, Mr. Kenney has been involved in the acquisition, roll-up, and integration of banks. He was a Director of a number of banks owned by First of America Bank Corporation and had responsibility for various national business lines in addition to operations and other support functions for First of America Bank Corporation. Mr. Kenney developed and implemented many of the Federal Reserve’s national check collection services. He joined the DentaQuest Foundation Board in 2009.

Roderick K. King, MD, MPH, FAAP
Harvard Medical School
Dr. King is Faculty in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Senior Faculty at the Massachusetts General Hospital Disparities Solutions Center, and is Senior Advisor to the Associate Administrator for the Bureau of Primary Health Care, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Dr. King is also a Senior Fellow at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy where he has supported leadership development approaches for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Aligning Forces for Quality Alliances. Prior to his current work, Dr. King served as the New England Regional Director for the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and as a Commander in the U.S. Public Health Service.

Dr. King is also President and CEO of Next Generation Consulting Group (www.ngcg.org), an organization that focuses on building health communities through leadership and organizational development, program evaluation, and the mobilization of leaders for collective impact. He has worked with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, and The California Endowment on leadership development, evaluation, and collective impact in communities.

Dr. King earned a B.S. degree in Biomedical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University, a medical degree from Cornell University Medical College with honors in research, and an MPH from Harvard School of Public Health. He currently serves on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Advisory Committee on Minority Health, and Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick’s Health Care Quality and Cost Council Advisory Committee. He serves on the Boards of Health Care for All, Health Resources in Action, and Amplifyme. Dr. King joined the DentaQuest Foundation Board in 2004.

Michael McPherson
The Spencer Foundation
Mr. McPherson is a nationally known economist with expertise in the interplay between education and economics. For seven years he served as President of Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota (1996 to 2003) and prior to that, he spent 22 years as Professor of Economics, Chairman of the Economics Department, and Dean of Faculty at Williams College, in Massachusetts. He is currently the fifth President of the Spencer Foundation, established in 1972 to support research about education.

Mr. McPherson is co-author and editor of several books. He has served as a trustee of the College Board, the American Council on Education, and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. He has also been a Fellow of the Institute for Advanced Study and a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. He joined the DentaQuest Foundation Board in 2009.

Linda C. Niessen DMD, MPH, MPP
DENTSPLY International, Chief Clinical Officer
As Vice President, Chief Clinical Officer, for DENTSPLY International, Dr. Niessen oversees clinical education activities, professional relations, and corporate communications. She also holds a faculty appointment as Clinical Professor in the Department of Restorative Services at Texas A&M Health Science Center, Baylor College of Dentistry in Dallas, Texas. Prior to joining DENTSPLY, Dr. Niessen served as Professor and Chairwoman of the Department of Public Health Services at the Baylor College of Dentistry. Dr. Niessen joined the DentaQuest Foundation Board in 2009. She also serves on the Board of Dental Service of Massachusetts.

Dr. Niessen has worked to develop the emerging area of geriatric oral research, serving as a founding member of the Geriatric Oral Research Group of the International Association of Dental Research. She currently sits on the editorial boards of several scientific journals and has authored and co-authored over 60 articles in peer-reviewed journals on topics related to improving oral health for older adults. In the policy arena of post-doctoral education in dental public health and geriatric dental care, Dr. Niessen initiated graduate education programs in both disciplines while on the faculty at the University of Maryland and then the Baylor College of Dentistry in partnership with the Department of Veterans Affairs and the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth.

Dr. Niessen has been active in professional dental organizations throughout her career. She has served as President of the American Association of Public Health Dentistry, American Association of Women Dentists, American Board of Dental Public Health, Friends of NIDCR, Santa Fe Group, and Dallas County Dental Society. She has served as a consumer advisor for the American Dental Association and television correspondent for “Dental Health Check,” a news segment on oral health, formerly aired on WFAA-TV, an ABC affiliate in Dallas.

With this broad perspective of multiple facets of oral health, Dr. Niessen has a unique perspective of the roles dental professionals, professional associations, insurers, and the dental industry play in the adoption and transfer of new technology for oral health. Dr. Niessen joined the DentaQuest Foundation Board in 2009.

Marylou Sudders, ACSW
Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (MSPCC)
Chair, DentaQuest Foundation Board of Directors
Ms. Sudders is the President and CEO of the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. MSPCC is a private, non-profit society dedicated to leadership in protecting and promoting the rights and well-being of children and families. One of the largest child and family agencies in the Massachusetts, MSPCC provides an array of child abuse and neglect prevention and intervention programs and mental health treatment to 30,000 families a year. In addition, MSPCC advocates on issues affecting families and children. In 2004, MSPCC issued the report, Oral Health and the Commonwealth’s Most Vulnerable Children: A State of Decay, which highlighted the dental care access crisis for children with Medicaid coverage.

Previously, Ms. Sudders spent seven years as Commissioner of Mental Health for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In this role, she oversaw the state’s public mental health system, providing services to more than 24,000 adults with serious mental illness and children with serious emotional disturbances. The recipient of many awards, Ms. Sudders was honored with the National Association of Social Workers national award for mental health policy.

Ms. Sudders holds a Master’s degree in social work and a Bachelor’s degree with honors from Boston University. She joined the DentaQuest Foundation Board of Directors in 2005, served as Vice Chair from 2008 to 2011. Ms. Sudders became Chairman of the DentaQuest Foundation Board of Directors in 2011.

Norman A. Tinanoff, DDS
Department of Health Promotion and Policy, University of Maryland
Dr. Tinanoff’s Tinanoff’s principal interests are preventing dental caries and improving oral health access for underserved children. Dr. Tinanoff has authored or co-authored over 140 full-length publications, primarily on fluoride mechanisms, anti-microbials, caries risk factors, early childhood caries, and prevention.

As a practicing dentist involved in policy decisions and the Chair of the University of Maryland Department of Health Promotion and Policy, Dr. Tinanoff has a strong point of view on oral health policy and scientific development. As co-chair of the Dental Action Committee in Maryland, and as a member of multiple committees, Dr. Tinanoff has been involved in deliberations on improvements in Medicaid; he has helped craft legislation aimed at improving Medicaid practices.

Dr. Tinanoff received his dental degree from the University of Maryland, a Master’s degree in Pediatric Dentistry at the University of Iowa, and completed a research fellowship at the Veteran’s Administration Hospital in Iowa City. He then spent two years in military service at the Army Institute of Dental Research at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Dr. Tinanoff spent 16 years as Director of the Pediatric Dentistry Graduate Program at the University of Connecticut Health Center. In 1999, he became Chairman of the Department of Pediatric Dentistry at the University of Maryland and later Chairman of the Department of Health Promotion and Policy, which includes Pediatric Dentistry, Dental Hygiene, and Community Dentistry. Dr. Tinanoff joined the DentaQuest Foundation Board in 2009.