Burton L. Edelstein, DDS, MPH (Chair)
Professor of Dentistry and Health Policy and Management
Columbia University
New York, NY

Shelly Gehshan (Vice-Chair)
Senior Program Director
National Academy for State Health Policy
Washington, DC

Jackie Noyes, MA (Secretary/Treasurer)
Associate Executive Director
American Academy of Pediatrics
Washington, DC

Caswell A. Evans, Jr., DDS, MPH
Associate Dean for Prevention and Public Health Sciences
University of Illinois College of Dentistry
Chicago, IL

Claude Earl Fox, MD, MPH (Emeritus)
Research Professor, Epidemiology and Public Health
University of Miami School of Medicine
Miami, FL

Steven William Kess
Vice President
Henry Schein, Inc.
Melville, NY

Marion Ein Lewin
Chevy Chase, MD

Kathy O'Loughlin, DMD, MPH, MBA
President and CEO
Delta Dental Plan of Massachusetts
Boston, MA

Ned L. Savide, DDS
Past President
American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry
Palos Heights, IL

Rakesh Singh
Senior Communications Officer
Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured
Washington, DC

Burton L. Edelstein, DDS, MPH (Founding Director)
Burt Edelstein is a Board certified pediatric dentist and professor of dentistry and public health at Columbia University, where he is Chairman of the Section on Social and Behavioral Sciences. Burt practiced pediatric dentistry in Connecticut and taught pediatric dentistry and oral health policy at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine for 21 years before committing to full time health policy practice. He served as a 1996-7 Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow in the office of US Senate minority leader Tom Daschle with primary responsibilities for SCHIP. He worked with the US Department of Health and Human Services on its oral health initiatives from 1998 to 2001, chaired the US Surgeon General's Workshop on Children and Oral Health, and authored the child section of the US Surgeon General's Report Oral Health in America. Edelstein is a graduate of Harpur College, SUNY Buffalo School of Dentistry, Harvard School of Public Health, and the Boston Children's Hospital pediatric dentistry residency program. His work has been recognized by a number of organizations including the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (Pediatric Dentist of the Year), the Association of State and Territorial Dental Directors (Outstanding Service Award), the Harvard School of Dental Medicine (Distinguished Alumnus Award), and the American College of Dentists (Outstanding Service Award). With support from the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, American Academy of Pediatrics, and American Dental Education Association, Dr. Edelstein founded the Children's Dental Health Project in 1997, incorporating it as a 501(c)3 in 1999.

Caswell A. Evans, Jr., DDS, MPH
Caswell A. Evans is the Associate Dean for Prevention and Public health Sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), College of Dentistry. Via an appointment with the School of Public Health, Dr, Evans is also the Director of the Center for Prevention and Public Health Sciences in Oral Health, UIC Health Research and Policy Centers. For the seven years prior to taking on his current role, Dr. Evans was Director, National Oral Health Initiative, within the office of the U.S. Surgeon General. Dr. Evans represented the Surgeon General providing guidance and assistance to state and local initiatives responsive to Oral Health in America: A Report of the Surgeon General, and to the subsequent National Call To Action. Dr. Evans served as the Executive Editor and Project Director for the Surgeon General's report, released in May 2000, and provided direction for the development of the National Call To Action to Promote Oral Health, released in April 2003. Dr. Evans has been elected into the Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Evans received his Doctor of Dental Surgery degree from Columbia University's School of Dental and Oral Surgery in New York City, and earned his Master of Public Health degree from the University of Michigan, School of Public Health.

Claude Earl Fox, MD, MPH
Claude Earl Fox is a public health physician who has headed federal, state and local agencies in a nearly three-decade career dedicated to equal access to health care. He is currently the first permanent director of the Johns Hopkins Urban Health Institute and Public Health Professor of The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Prior to joining Hopkins, Dr. Fox served as the Administrator of the federal Health Resources and Services Administration in the Department of Health and Human Services. HRSA, with a 6 billion dollar budget, helps assure access to primary health care services through its 5,000 state and local grantees. While the administrator for HRSA Dr. Fox also co-chaired the departmental policy committee for the State Children's Health Insurance Program. From November 1995 to March 1997, he was Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health in the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. Before that, he served as HHS regional health administrator in Philadelphia, overseeing federal health and human service programs in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Delaware and the District of Columbia. He was Alabama's state health officer from 1986 to 1992 and Mississippi's deputy state health officer from 1983 to 1986. He has also served as President of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. Dr. Fox is a 1968 graduate of Mississippi College, earned his medical degree at the University of Mississippi in 1972 and received a master's of public health from the University of North Carolina in 1975. He performed his pediatric residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital and the University of Mississippi and has lived in Baltimore for nearly seven years. He is board certified in Prevention Medicine and Public Health and is a Fellow of the American College of Preventive Medicine.

Shelly Gehshan
Shelly Gehshan joined the National Academy for State Health Policy in May, 2005 as a senior program director in their Washington, DC office. Prior to her appointment to NASHP, she served as a program director at the National Conference of State Legislatures for nearly 9 years. Since 2002, Ms. Gehshan has served on the board of directors for the Children’s Dental Health Project, a Washington, DC-based group that supports state and local oral health programs for children. She is currently CDHP’s vice president.

She has published extensively on oral health topics, including reports on improving access to dental care in Medicaid, racial disparities in oral health, dental workforce issues and community water fluoridation. In 2002, she completed a study for RWJ called “Access to Dental Care for Low Income People: Barriers and Opportunities for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation,” which has been widely read and quoted. In 2004, she was chosen by the American Dental Association to address their House of Delegates meeting in Orlando, Florida on access issues. In 2006, she was chosen to attend the ADA Advocacy Summit at their headquarters in Chicago. Ms. Gehshan also serves on an Advisory Committee for the ADHA on the development of a new advanced dental hygiene practitioner.

Prior to joining NCSL, she served for 6 years as the Deputy Director of the Southern Governors’ Infant Mortality Project. She has 25 years of nonprofit management experience and 16 years of experience working for governors and state legislators on issues affecting low income women and children. She has published and spoken extensively on oral health, health care financing, perinatal substance abuse, and maternal and child health issues. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in English from Cornell University and a Masters in Public Policy from the University of California at Berkeley.

Steven William Kess
Steven Kess received his Bachelor and Master Degrees of Business Administration from the Baruch School of the City College of New York. He has held a number of management positions in the communications and healthcare industries with a focus on marketing and business development. His diverse experience has included consumer packaged goods and the dental and healthcare industries. Widely recognized for his critical insight and ability to synthesize business and public policy concerns, Mr. Kess has been both an entrepreneur and a member of larger corporations in his career. Since 1991, Mr. Kess has held several executive positions with Henry Schein, Inc. of Melville, New York in both the medical and dental divisions. Currently he is the Vice President of Professional Relations for Sullivan-Schein Dental and Henry Schein, Inc. Within the dental community, he has served with distinction on the board of directors of many organizations, including the American Dental Association Foundation, currently it's Vice President, the Academy of General Dentistry Foundation, the National Museum of Dentistry, Oral Health America, and the American Dental Assistant's Association. In addition, he has served on the corporate advisory board of the National Dental Association and the Hispanic Dental Association. He is the Chairman of the American Dental Trade Association's Community Relations Committee, Secretary-Treasurer of the Santa Fe Group oral health think tank and a member of the Nation's Healthy People 2010 Committee. He has written numerous articles on advertising, marketing and innovation, and is an award-winning documentary film producer. Biographical sketches of Mr. Kess appear in the 1988-1990 editions of Who's Who in the East and in the 1985-1986 edition of Who's Who in Industry and Finance.

Marion Ein Lewin
Marion Ein Lewin, until September 2001, served as Senior Staff Officer at the Institute of Medicine and headed its Office of Health Policy Programs and Fellowships. In this position, she directed The Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellowships Program, the Gustav O. Lienhard Award, the IOM/AAN Nurse-Scholar Programs, and the Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Lecture Series. Ms. Lewin has also served as study director for major IOM reports including, "Balancing the Scales of Opportunity: Ensuring Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Health Professions" (1994), "Improving the Medicare Market: Adding Choice and Protections" (1996), and most recently a government-sponsored study on "America's Health Care Safety Net: Intact but Endangered" (2000). Ms. Lewin's tenure at the IOM began in 1987. Before coming to the IOM, Ms. Lewin was Director of the Center for Health Policy Research at the American Enterprise Institute, where she conducted research and policy studies related to the financing and delivery of health care including indigent care, Medicare and Medicaid, and private sector health cost management efforts. Previous to this assignment she was Deputy Director of the National Health Policy Forum and worked as a health legislative aide in the Congress. Ms. Lewin has written extensively on a wide range of health care topics. She authors a quarterly "Washington Outlook" section for the Journal of Medical Practice Management. In 1996, she headed a major project for the Association for Health Services Research (AHSR, now AcademyHealth), the development and publication of a Baxter Health Policy Review volume on "Strategic Choices for a Changing Health Care System." Ms. Lewin serves on the boards of Providence Hospital in Washington, D.C. and the Primary Health Care Association of Montgomery County. Ms. Lewin is a member of the National Academy of Social Insurance. She received her undergraduate and graduate education at Columbia University. Currently, Ms. Lewin works as a special projects health care policy consultant.

Elizabeth J. Noyes (Jackie), MA
Elizabeth J. Noyes (Jackie), MA, serves as Associate Executive Director of the American Academy of Pediatrics based in Washington, DC. In this capacity, Jackie has direct oversight for both the federal and state advocacy efforts. Jackie received her BA from Converse College and her MA from the University of Virginia. She joined the Washington Office of the Academy in 1973 as a Legislative Assistant and became Director of that office in 1977. In 1994 she was named Associate Executive Director. She is an honorary member of the Society for Adolescent Medicine and the Irish & American Pediatric Society. In December, 2000, she was appointed to the National Advisory Commission on Childhood Vaccines by DHHS Secretary Donna Shalala and in December, 2001, she was elected Chair. In October, 1999, she was presented with the U.S. Surgeon General's Certificate of Appreciation for Outstanding Contributions to the Health and Welfare of America's Children and Adolescents. She is listed in the guide to the most influential health policy makers in the United States. She serves on various professional/civic boards and has published in various professional journals.

Kathleen Treanor O'Loughlin, DMD, MPH, MBA
Kathy O'Loughlin is President and Chief Executive Officer of Delta Dental Plan of Massachusetts (DDPMA), a not-for-profit dental insurer with revenues of $430 million, 1.9 million covered lives, and 95% of Massachusetts dentists as participants. Prior to joining DDPMA as executive, Dr. O'Loughlin served as a corporate member and director of DDPMA from 1983 to 2001 while practicing dentistry full time in Medford and Winchester, MA for 20 years and serving as an Assistant Clinical Professor at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine in the Department of General Dentistry. As a course director at Tufts, Dr. O'Loughlin prepared second year dental students for the clinical treatment of patients. She served on the Executive Faculty Committee and chaired the Outcomes Assessment Committee during the school's latest accreditation. Dr. O'Loughlin received her bachelor's degree cum laude from Boston University in 1974, her doctorate from Tufts University summa cum laude in 1981, and a Masters in Public Health in health care administration from Harvard in 1998. Dr. O'Loughlin has served as program chairperson on three occasions for the Yankee Dental Congress, the fifth largest dental meeting in the United States. Other volunteer activities include establishing a dental clinic at a homeless shelter in Lawrence, MA in 1992, as well as serving on the executive committee for the Massachusetts Dental Society and as president of both the Tufts Dental Alumni and the St. Appolonia Guild. Dr. O'Loughlin is a fellow of the American College of Dentists, the International College of Dentists, and the Pierre Fouchard Society. She is also a member of the International Association for Dental Research, the American Dental Association, the American Association of Women Dentists, and the American Dental Education Association.

Ned L. Savide, DDS
bio to come

Rakesh Singh
Rakesh Singh is a senior communications officer for the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. In this role, Rakesh manages the day-to-day marketing and outreach strategy for information and publications produced by the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, the Foundation's largest program area.

Prior to his five years at Kaiser, Rakesh was a policy associate and, later, policy director for the Alliance for Health Reform, a nonprofit organization chaired by Senator Jay Rockefeller and vice-chaired by Senator Bill Frist, which educates policy staff and the media on health policy issues. Rakesh served on the health staff of the U.S. Committee on Finance under the supervision of then ranking member Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan from 1995 to 1997. He also served as a legislative assistant to U.S. Representative Jim Cooper (TN) during the national health care debate of 1993-94.

Rakesh is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis with a degree in political science.