The Johns Hopkins 2025 Global Oral Health Symposium

2025 Global Oral Health Symposium 

at Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health

March 27-28, 2025

Sponsored by the Johns Hopkins Center for Global Health in collaboration with Solidarity Dental Foundation, a 501c(3) non-profit organization dedicated to oral health care, research and education.

Vision

To bring various, seemingly distinct professionals together across public health, medicine, oral health, and related fields to discuss, understand, and advance healthcare. Improve dentistry’s awareness & perspective on public health themes such as access to care & health inequities. Improve medicines & public health’s understanding of the broadest scope of oral health beyond childhood caries & periodontal disease.

 

Background

Given the history of fostering innovative healthcare solutions, Johns Hopkins University is uniquely positioned to lead a conversation integrating the mouth into medicine and public health. Building on the success of previous events, including the 2023 Global Oral Symposium and the 2024 Johns Hopkins Hospital World Oral Health Day, the 2025 symposium will expand its dialogue, focusing on the intersection of oral health with medicine and public health.

 

Goals: 

The 2025 Global Oral Health Symposium will…

Promote Interdisciplinary Collaboration

Address Neglected Health Issues

Develop Actionable Outcomes.

 

Given the history of fostering innovative healthcare solutions, Johns Hopkins University is uniquely positioned to lead a conversation integrating the mouth into medicine and public health. Building on the success of previous events, including the 2023 Global Oral Health Symposium and the 2024 Johns Hopkins Hospital World Oral Health Day, the 2025 symposium will expand its dialogue, focusing on the intersection of oral health with medicine and public health.

The 2025 Global Oral Health Symposium gathers experts from medicine, public health, dentistry, health economics, journalism, health informatics, and patient safety in the spirit of the inaugural GOH Symposium in 2023. 

The idea is to bring various, seemingly distinct professionals together across various fields to discuss, understand, and advance healthcare; improve dentistry’s awareness & perspective on public health themes such as access to care & health inequities; & improve medicine's & public health’s understanding of the broadest scope of oral health beyond childhood caries & periodontal disease.

With a growing appreciation to oral-medical links from complications during pregnancy, contributions to cardiac complications, difficulty managing diabetes and associations with Alzheimer’s disease, there is increasing need for data, education and training as well as advocacy and policy to best inform the public on how best to incorporate oral health into medicine at the population level. There is a clear need to advance the conversation. Johns Hopkins University is uniquely positioned to host a collaborative event that encourages intelligent conversations without bias.

 

Welcome

Judd Walson, MD, MPH

Chair of the Department of International Health 

Associate Director of the Center for Global Health

 

A Johns Hopkins “Center for Oral Health”

Sujay A.J. Mehta, DMD, MPH

Program Coordinator Johns Hopkins Global Oral Health Symposium

 

A Fireside Chat in Baltimore: Perspectives on Oral Health & General Health
 

Dushanka Kleinman, DDS, MScD

Professor Emerita

University of Maryland School of Public Health

 

Eleanor Fleming, PhD, DDS, MPH, FICD

Director of Oral Health Equity Research & Innovation

University of Maryland School of Dentistry

 

Lois Cohen, PhD 

Consultant & Paul G. Rogers Ambassador for Global Health Research

 

Mary Otto

Journalist & Author  

“Teeth: The Story of Beauty, Inequality, and the Struggle for Oral Health in America” 

 

Mary Backley

Chief Executive Officer 

Maryland Dental Action Coalition

 

Darien Weatherspoon, DDS, MPH

Assistant Professor

University of Maryland School of Dentistry

 

Keynote: Environmental Sustainability

Phase Down, Scale Up: Reimagining Oral Health for Environmental Sustainability

Muneer Gohar Babar, PhD

Associate Dean of Academic Affairs

School of Dentistry International Medical University

 

The Need for Interprofessional & Collaborative Care

Emergency Department Visits for Non-Traumatic Dental Conditions: Implications for Public Health and Policy

Elías Morón, DDS, MPH, MHL

Associate Professor & Interim Director

Master of Science Program, Department of Oral Science & Translational Research

Nova Southeastern University College of Dental Medicine

 

The Mouth as a Window to ESKD-Related Bone Disease 

C. Elena Cervantes, MD

Assistant Professor

Division of Nephrology, the Johns Hopkins Hospital 

 

Integrating Oral Health Care and Primary Care for the Maternal and Child Health Population

Katy Battani, RDH, MS

Deputy Director, National Maternal and Child Oral Health Resource Center

Assistant Professor, Department of Paediatrics, Georgetown University 

DrPH student, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health

 

The State of the Nation

Maryland’s State Level Health Initiatives

Debony Hughes, DDS

Director, Office of Oral Research

Maryland Department of Health

 

From Access to Outcomes: The Global and U.S. Implications of Oral Health Policy

Heather Taylor, PhD, MPH, LDH

Assistant Professor, Department of Health Policy & Management

Indiana University Fairbanks School of Public Health

 

Putting Public Health into Practice: Integration and Innovation in FQHCs

Parita Patel, DMD, MPH

Health Policy Advocate 

FQHC Dental Program Leader

 

Expanding the Oral Health Workforce

Looking Beyond the Teeth: Reflections on Culture and Oral Health

Karem Manresa-Cumarin, MD, MPH

Epidemiologist & Digital Communications Coordinator

Solidarity Dental Foundation

 

Fly-In Dentistry in Remote Alaskan Communities

Richard Rodriguez, DDS, MPH

Staff Dentist 

Southcentral Foundation

 

Unlocking the Power of Dental Therapy: Improving Access to Quality, Culturally Relevant, Oral Healthcare

Kari Ann Kuntzelman (Chickasaw Nation), LDT

Dental Health Aide Specialist, Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board

President, American Dental Therapy Association

 

Innovations for the 21st Century

Leveraging AI & Technology for Global Oral Health Collaborations

Jessica Klabak, DDS, MPH

Head of Clinical Effectiveness, VideaHealth

Executive Director, Solidarity Dental Foundation

 

Health Informatics

Anay Dudhbhate, BDS, MPH, CHE

Epic Application Analyst, Women’s College Hospital 

Professor of Health Informatics, George Brown College 

Professor of Healthcare Leadership & Management, Conestoga College 

 

AI-Powered Living Evidence-Informed Clinical Practice Guidelines

Alonso Carrasco-Labra, DDS, MSc, PhD

Associate Professor Center for Integrative Global Oral Health; Director Cochrane Oral Health Collaborating Center University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine

 

Antibiotic Stewardship

Tackling Antibiotic Resistance: Why, What & How

Leanne Teoh, BDSc Hons, B.Pharm Hons, PhD 

Associate Professor

Dame Kate Campbell Fellow

University of Melbourne Dental School 

 

Dragon’s Den: Early Career Professionals’ Presentations

Dragons: 

Emilia Istrate, PhD

Senior Vice President, Policy and Education Research

American Dental Education Association

 

Faeq Quadri, BDS, MS, PhD, FRSPH, FICD

Director of Research, Assistant Professor of Dental Public Health

Woody L Hunt School of Dental Medicine

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center

 

Martha Mutis, DDS, MA, MPH, EdD

President, American Association of Hospital Dentists (AAHD)

Immediate Past President & Chair of Research, Grants, Development 

Hispanic Dental Association

 

Ramprasad Vasthare, MDS, FAIMER Fellow

Professor and Head

Department of Public Health Dentistry

Manipal College of Dental Sciences

 

Abiola Adeniyi, BChD, FMCDS, MPH, MA, PhD

Assistant Professor Health & Human Services; 

Director MHA Program

Fairleigh Dickinson University School of Public & Global Affairs

 

Elham Kateeb, BDS, MPH, PhD

Professor of Dental Public Health & Dean of Scientific Research

Al-Quds University

Counsil member 

Federation Dentaire Internationale

 

Early Career Professional Abstracts:

 

Amisha Parmar

MSc candidate

McMaster University

 

Mkandawire Thandiwe

BDS candidate

The Copperbelt University School of Medicine Zambia

 

Alexa Bennett

PhD candidate Water & Health

University of Waterloo

 

Kathryn Carrier

MD candidate

Dalhousie University

 

Aoife Cummins

PhD candidate Global Health

McMaster University 

 

Vincenza Sgura

MSc Global Health & Equity

Maastricht University, the Netherlands

 

Marina Nevison

MSc Global Health candidate

McMaster University

 

Lakshmi Moorthy, BDS, MDS

MPH candidate

Johns Hopkins University

 

Day 2:

Ethical Responsibility of Oral Health: Oral Health and Humanitarian Health

Humanitarian Oral Health Campaigns

Sarah Raskin, PhD, MPH 

Associate Professor

Virginia Commonwealth University

Douglas Wilder School of Government & Public Affairs

 

Oral Healthcare in Refugee Camps

Khaleda Zaheer, BDS, MClinDent

Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder

Refugee Crisis Foundation

 

Oral Health in Humanitarian Crises: An Overlooked Priority for Global Health Agendas

Elham Kateeb, BDS, MPH, PhD

Professor of Dental Public Health & Dean of Scientific Research

Al-Quds University

Counsil member 

Federation Dentaire Internationale

 

Lessons from Resource Limited Regions

School Oral Health as a Catalyst for Health Transformation: Case Studies from Southeast Asia

Abiola Adeniyi, BChD, FMCDS, MPH, MA, PhD

Assistant Professor Health & Human Services; Director MHA Program

Fairleigh Dickinson University School of Public & Global Affairs

 

Interprofessional Collaboration for Enhanced Community Oral Health

Ramprasad Vasthare, MDS, FAIMER Fellow

Professor and Head

Department of Public Health Dentistry

Manipal College of Dental Sciences

 

Building Community Systems for the Delivery of Oral Health Services 

Olayinka Adekugbe, DMD, MPH, MSc

Assistant Professor

Missouri School of Dentistry and Oral Health

 

Lessons from the Armstrong Institute 

Shannon Cole PhD

Senior Medical Writer & Editor 

Johns Hopkins School of Medicine

The Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality

 

Albert Wu, MD, MPH

Professor & Director of Strategic Collaboration

Johns Hopkins Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality

 

Health Economics Case Study

Priyanka Gudsoorkar, BDS, MBA, MPH

Assistant Professor & Director 

Global Health Concentration, BSPH 

University of Cincinnati College of Medicine

 

K. Davina Frick, PhD

Professor

Johns Hopkins University Carey Business School

Small Group Breakout Workshops

Closing Remarks