Meet Our Team
Annaliese Cothron, DHSc, MS, CPH
Co-Founder & Executive Director
she/her
Dr. Annaliese Cothron is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of the American Institute of Dental Public Health.
Education and Capacity Building Team
PROJECT MANAGER
Jasmine Joseph, RDH, MPH
(she/her)
Jasmine Joseph is a project manager at AIDPH specializing in educational programming. She is a registered dental hygienist and a public health specialist working with the California Department of Public Health.
LEADERSHIP & CAPACITY BUILDING STRATEGIST
Stacey Chazin, MPH
(she/her)
Stacey is a seasoned health policy and public health professional committed to improving the oral and overall health of low-income and other vulnerable populations. She has extensive capacity-building, leadership development with a passion for advancing population health and equity.
EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATOR
Caitie Skaggs, MSW
(she/her)
Caitie provides support for AIDPH educational activities. She is the Principal and Founder of Very Good Assistance. Caitie is known for engaging with all stakeholders to find better, more efficient solutions to our problems.
Science and Research Team
VETERAN ORAL HEALTH SPECIALIST
Valerie Nieto, RDH, MS
(she/her)
Valerie Nieto, RDH, MS is a Clinical Lecturer from the University of Michigan, School of Dentistry, Department of Periodontics and Oral Medicine, Division of Dental Hygiene. She teaches in and serves as a research – faculty advisor while advocating for expanded care for veterans.
BIOSTATISTICIAN
Amber Shaver, MA
(she/her)
Amber Shaver (Costantino) is currently an instructor in the Psychology Departments at both CSU, Fresno and Clovis Community College. She teaches a variety of courses but is particularly skilled at subjects related to research methods and statistics for the behavioral sciences.
RESEARCH ANALYST
Nithya Ramesh, BDS, MPH
(she/her)
Dr. Ramesh is a mixed-methods researcher, dentist, analytical epidemiologist, and public health educator. She supports research projects for AIDPH and is a full-time Research Associate at The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice.
Communications Team
COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGIST
John Burnham, MTS
(he/him)
John is the Co-Founder and Principal of Burnam | Gray a nonprofit consulting firm and B-corporation. He specializes in brand and identity development, social media and marketing, and board training and governance.
SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER
Amanda Duran
(she/her)
Amanda manages communications content for AIDPH. She enjoys elevating her clients through thoughtful execution of the logistical and planning process. Amanda is meticulous and has a demonstrated history of succeeding in fast-paced environments.
A Letter from the Director
Dental public health is a dynamic specialty. As a national nonprofit organization, AIDPH aims to be responsive and adaptive to the evergrowing, everchanging needs of the oral health community.
The mission of AIDPH is to foster professional excellence and advance innovation in the practice and education of dental public health. We pursue this mission through our core values of equity, collaboration, exploration, and connection. Our ultimate goal is to strengthen the dental public health community as we work together serving the most vulnerable.
AIDPH was founded in 2015 through a grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) with an intention to fill existing gaps in the national network of dental public health professionals. The programming we have developed provides a framework for advanced dental education students, dental professionals, nonprofit leaders, academicians, advocates, and dental residents to learn about barriers to oral health care by increasing cultural sensitivity and understanding the needs of underrepresented groups.
Our annual colloquium is designed to provide focused information and discussion related to an emerging topic in dental public health science and practice. These colloquia allow for a free exchange of ideas and discussion about key dental public health topics that engage learners and experts in a comfortable educational environment.
AIDPH provides additional experiences that can enhance learning opportunities for advanced education students and public health practitioners. Anecdotal Evidence, the AIDPH podcast series, connects public health leaders to promulgate real-time strategies in moving the needle toward creating shared value in the science and education of dental public health. The AIDPH DPH Interview series highlights stories from dental public health experts about their career paths and strategies for success in the dental public health workforce. Using the DPH-VRC, scholars can access over 2,0000 curated references on critical dental public health topics.
The overarching objective of experiences provided by AIDPH is to promote dental public health knowledge, skills, and values with the goal of educating a future oral health workforce. AIDPH experiences highlight the roles that dental public health scholars and practitioners can undertake to obtain optimal oral health care for communities.
Sincerely,
Annaliese Cothron, DHSc, MS, CPH
Executive Director, American Institute of Dental Public Health