AIDPH Team - The American Institute of Dental Public Health

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.

She received her Doctor of Health Sciences (DHSc) from A.T. Still University in Leadership and Organizational Behavior and Master of Science from Mississippi State University, specializing in Experimental Psychology with a theme in Applied Statistics. Dr. Cothron is credentialed as Certified in Public Health and has a certificate in nonprofit management and fundraising from Our Lady of the Lake University.

After moving to San Antonio, she worked at UT Health San Antonio School of Dentistry for eight years as the Evaluation Coordinator for two school-based sealant programs, teaching as a core instructor in the Dental Public Residency Program and serving as Director of the Texas Repository of Oral Health Data for Evaluation and Outcomes (ROHDEO). In her present position at AIDPH, Dr. Cothron manages the programming, fund development, and overall organizational strategy of AIDPH.

Dr. Cothron is an active member and leader within several national professional organizations, including the Dental Informatics Section of the American Dental Education Association and the American Public Health Association. She serves as a board member for Texas Impact and the Texas Oral Health Coalition while supporting the Oral Health Progress and Equity Network as a ROCHT Lead and facilitating the LGBTQIA+ workgroup. Prior to joining UT Health San Antonio, she was one of the initial members of the Mississippi Tobacco Data Workgroup in the Social Science Research Center at Mississippi State University, focusing on health policy initiatives, tobacco susceptibility and cessation research, and administration of the Youth Risk Behavior Survey for the state of Mississippi.

Education and Capacity Building Team

PROJECT MANAGER

Jasmine Joseph, RDH, MPH

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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

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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

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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

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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