Leadership: Board of Directors
CDHP is governed by an interdisciplinary Board of Directors, including members of academia, private practice, suppliers/industry, and policy and communication experts. The Board meets four times annually.
The three standing committees of the Board are: Advancement, Finance and Governance.
CDHP Board of Directors
Burton L. Edelstein, DDS, MPH (Founder and Chair)
Professor of Dentistry and Health Policy and Management
Columbia University
New York, NY
Fotinos S. Panagakos, DMD PhD (Vice Chair)
Director of Professional Relations
Colgate Palmolive
Marion Ein Lewin (Secretary)
Chevy Chase, MD
Ned L. Savide, DDS (Treasurer)
Past President
American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry
Palos Heights, IL
Caswell A. Evans, Jr., DDS, MPH
Associate Dean for Prevention and Public Health Sciences
University of Illinois College of Dentistry
Chicago, IL
Steven William Kess
Vice President
Henry Schein, Inc.
Melville, NY
Cheryl Austein Casnoff
Senior Fellow in Public Health
National Opinion Research Center, University of Chicago
Bethesda, MD
Michael Labson
Partner
Covington & Burling LLP
Chevy Chase, MD
Linda Loranger
Senior Vice President and Director of Health Policy Team
Burnes Communications
Chevy Chase, MD
Kevin Thomas
Industry Relations
3M EPSE
Wellington FL
Burton Edelstein, DDS, MPH (Chair)
Burton 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. Burton 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.
Fotinos S. Panagakos, DMD, PhD
Dr. Panagakos received his DMD from UMDNJ-New Jersey Dental School and his PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from UMDNJ-Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences in 1992. Following a one-year research fellowship, Dr. Panagakos returned to NJDS as an assistant professor in the Department of Prosthodontics and Biomaterials. In 1999, he received his Masters in Education from Seton Hall University and in 2007 he received his Master’s in Business Administration from Lehigh University.
Dr. Panagakos served for 14 years as a faculty member at New Jersey Dental School. While at New Jersey Dental School, Dr. Panagakos served in a number of administrative positions, including Group Practice Administrator, Director of Environmental Safety and Associate Dean of Academic Affairs.
In 2005, Dr. Panagakos joined the Colgate Palmolive Oral Care Clinical Research Department as an Associate Director. His responsibilities included clinical research and development support for the North American Oral Care division and Colgate Oral Pharmaceuticals. In 2006, Dr. Panagakos was promoted to Director of Professional Relations – North America. In his current role, Dr. Panagakos serves as the primary liaison between Colgate and professional and academic groups in the US, coordinates all professional education programs, and serves as the scientific affairs liaison to the professional community.
Ned L. Savide, DDS (Treasurer)
Dr. Neophytos (Ned) L. Savide is a 1975 graduate of the School of Dentistry of Loyola University of Chicago. He completed his postgraduate program in pediatric dentistry at the School of Dentistry at University of California Los Angeles in 1977. Since that time, he has practiced full time in Palos Heights, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. He is a staff member of the Departments of Surgery and Pediatrics at Hope children's Hospital. Dr. Savide is a Diplomate of the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, the American College of Dentists and the International College of Dentists. He is Past President of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry. Currently, he serves as a Director of the Children's Dental Health Project and Chair of the AAPD Perinatal Grant Committee.
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.
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 (Secretary)
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.
Cheryl Austein Casnoff
Cheryl Austein Casnoff joined the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago in 2009 as a Senior Fellow in the Public Health Department. Ms. Casnoff has a distinguished career in government working on health policy and public health topics, including work on Capitol Hill and in several agencies of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Her experience includes service as Director of the Division of Public Health Policy in the office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation and Director of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) providing insurance for millions of low-income children. She was also responsible for designing and implementing SCHIP in 1997. Ms. Casnoff's most recent work was with the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) as the Associate Administrator for Health Information Technology (HIT). In that role since 2005, she has promoted the adoption and effective use of HIT among safety net providers and populations. She also served as a member of the President's Task Force for Health Care Reform and as a Senior Legislative Fellow in the Office of Senator Dave Durenberger.
Ms. Casnoff received a Masters of Public Health in Health Services Administration from Yale Medical School, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health and a Bachelor of Arts in Biological Sciences from Northwestern University.
Linda Loranger
Linda Loranger has 20 years of experience in public relations and journalism, and is now a key strategist for health policy-related initiatives at Burness Communications. As the manager of the Health Policy team, Ms. Loranger provides insight, strategic counsel, and effective media relations in a number of health policy areas, ranging from health care quality to health care financing, from access issues to health care for children. Ms. Loranger is a highly effective media trainer and has trained numerous health policy researchers and leaders.
Since joining Burness Communications in 1995, she has worked extensively with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Commonwealth Fund, the Harvard School of Public Health, the journal of Health Affairs, and several health-related commissions.
Ms. Loranger began her career as a daily newspaper reporter in Connecticut, reporting for several years at the Hartford Courant. Prior to joining Burness, she headed communications for the Alpha Center, a Washington, D.C.-based health think tank, and at an RWJF-funded national program office focused on long-term care financing. She holds a B.A. in English and communications from the University of New Hampshire.
Kevin Thomas
Kevin Thomas currently Chair’s the Program Committee for the ADA Foundation’s Give Kids a Smile effort, moderating all three Promising Practices Symposium and serves on the Dean’s Council for UC-San Francisco School of Dentistry. Mr. Thomas began his dental career in 1982 when he joined the Ceramco Division of Johnson & Johnson Dental Care Company in Minneapolis, Minnesota as a Field Sales Representative. After serving as Sales Trainer, Product Sales Specialist (Atlanta, GA) and Regional Manager (Western US and Canada) his Division was sold to DENTSPLY International where he
was promoted to Endodontic Business manager for the Caulk Endo Small Business Unit in 1992 and then to Director of Sales for DENTSPLY Caulk.
In 1996 Mr. Thomas and two partners purchased OMNI Oral Pharmaceuticals which was first in dentistry
with products like stannous fluoride oral gels and rinses and tray based tooth whitening gels. Identifying the need for a professionally focused prevention company, based on an educational model, OMNI expanded into new lines in the United States and focused sales efforts on educating dental offices on the latest advances, protocols and studies on oral disease prevention. In 2006 OMNI Oral Pharmaceuticals was purchased by 3M ESPE. Mr. Thomas assisted 3M ESPE with the integration of OMNI into the 3M ESPE Division and in 2008 he moved to a part-time position with 3M ESPE in Industry Relations.
Donate
