August 5, 2010
UW Dentistry’s Wendy Mouradian named federal oral health adviser
Dr. Wendy Mouradian, associate dean for regional affairs at the School of Dentistry, has been named Special Adviser by the federal Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Dr. Mary K. Wakefield, HRSA Administrator, has announced. Mouradian, who leads the School of Dentistry’s Regional Initiative in Dental Education (RIDE), will be an adviser on oral health in HRSA’s Office of Strategic Priorities, Office of Special Health Affairs. She will assume these part-time duties in addition to her work at the school.
Mouradian, professor of pediatric dentistry and pediatrics at the schools of dentistry and medicine, has been a national leader in the effort to improve children’s oral health, especially by enlisting medical providers outside organized dentistry. She co-chaired the first national summit on children’s oral health in 2008, and several years earlier organized the U.S. Surgeon General’s Conference on Children and Oral Health for the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research. That conference led to Oral Health in America, a landmark report in 2000.
Last year she co-edited a special issue on children’s oral health by the journal Academic Pediatrics, examining progress made toward the goals set by the surgeon general’s report. Her work in this area has been recognized with several awards. She also has served as an oral health adviser to the American Academy of Pediatrics, and has co-chaired an American Association of Medical Colleges and American Dental Education Association joint panel to develop common curricula for medical and dental students.
“Her background and experience will be invaluable in advising HRSA’s and the department’s oral health agenda,” Wakefield said in her announcement. HRSA, part of the Department of Health and Human Services, is the federal agency primarily responsible for improving access to health care services for people who are uninsured, isolated, or medically vulnerable.
