Dr. Sinkford receives honorary doctorate from Meharry Medical College

Nashville, Tenn.鈥擬eharry Medical College bestowed an honorary doctorate of science on renowned dental educator, administrator, researcher and clinician Dr. Jeanne C. Sinkford at commencement ceremonies May 17.

Dr. Sinkford is associate executive director and director of the American Dental Education Association’s Center for Equity and Diversity.

“Dr. Sinkford’s work continues to advance and inspire the dental education community,” said Dr. Richard W. Valachovic, ADEA executive director. “ADEA congratulates her on the accomplishments so deservedly recognized by Meharry Medical College.”

As director of the Center for Equity and Diversity, Dr. Sinkford has helped create numerous fellowships and grants for underrepresented minorities pursuing dental education and positions in academic dentistry.

Most recently, she helped to secure funding from the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation to increase the diversity of the dental workforce in the United States. “Moving Forward: Bridging the Gap” will fund the planning process to implement a flexible seven-year dental curriculum, modeled after one currently used in medicine, to prepare a new cadre of underrepresented minority and low-income students for the practice of dentistry.

At Howard University College of Dentistry, where she spent 16 years, Dr. Sinkford became the first woman to serve as dean of a U.S. dental school. She came to ADEA (then the American Association of Dental Schools) in 1991 as director of its Office of Women and Minority Affairs.

In 2007, Dr. Sinkford received the National Dental Association’s Trailblazer Award. She has also played a role in crafting significant reports on the status of minorities in dentistry, including the 2004 report of the Sullivan Commission on Diversity in the Healthcare Workforce, Missing Persons: Minorities in the Health Professions.