Meet the Authors

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Dr. Steven Perlman is a Clinical Professor of Pediatric Dentistry at the Boston University Goldman School of Dental Medicine. For the past 40 years, he has devoted much of his private practice as well as his teaching, to the treatment of children and adults with physical and intellectual disabilities.

Dr. Perlman is a past president of the academy of Dentistry for Persons with Disabilities, the Massachusetts Academy of Pediatric Dentistry and the American Academy of Developmental Medicine and Dentistry.

He is a Fellow of the Academy of Dentistry for Persons with Disabilities, A fellow of the American College of Dentists and a Diplomate of the American Board of Special Care Dentistry.

Dr. Perlman was the first dentist in Massachusetts to receive the Exceptional Physician Award. He is a Distinguished Alumnus of the Boston University Goldman

School of Dental Medicine and the first graduate in the history of the Dental School to also be recognized as a Distinguished Alumnus of Boston University.

He is the recipient of the Harold Berk Award from the Academy of Dentistry for Persons with Disabilities and the Manny Album Award from the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry. Both awards are the highest honors of the organizations recognizing lifetime achievement in the care of people with disabilities.

Dr. Perlman has also been honored by the Pierre Fauchard Academy and in 2002, the American Dental Association presented him with their Access Recognition Award.

In May 2002, the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry Foundation named Dr. Perlman Dentist of the Year for his significant contributions to the dental profession and the specialty of pediatric dentistry over an entire career of distinguished service.

He has published over 300 articles, co-edited a textbook Treating the Dental Patient with a Developmental Disorder and was a contributor to the Surgeon General’s Report on Oral Health in 2001.

In 2005, Dr. Perlman received the Exceptional Parent Maxwell J. Schileifer Distinguished Service Award for dedication to improving the lives of individuals with special needs and disabilities as well as the Trudi Birger Community Service Award from Alpha Omega for extraordinary contribution to children with special needs all over the world.

In 1993, Dr. Perlman founded Special Olympics Special Smiles, an oral health initiative for the athletes of Special Olympics International. It now has over 200 events each year taking place in every state in the United States and in over 100 countries. He currently serves as their Senior Global Clinical Advisor.

Dr. Perlman is cofounder and past president of the American Academy of Developmental Medicine and Dentistry (AADMD) and in 2005 and 2006 served as an advisor to the President’s Committee for Persons with Intellectual Disabilities.

In 2008, in Shanghai, China, Special Olympics honored Dr. Perlman with a special Lifetime Global Leadership Award in promoting human dignity. Among the 12 individuals honored were; Nelson Mandela, Deng Pu Fang, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Vanessa Williams, Yao Ming and Nadia Comaneci.

In 2009, A. T. Still University of Arizona School of Dentistry and Oral Health presented Dr. Perlman with the honorary degree: Doctorate of Humane Letters.

On February 26, 2009, the Chicago Dental Society presented Dr. Perlman with the 2009 George Cushing Award for promoting awareness of the importance of oral health.

In July 2009, the Academy of General Dentistry honored Dr. Perlman with their Humanitarian Award.

In 2010, Massachusetts Special Olympics honored him with the Eunice Kennedy Shriver “Let Me Be Brave” award at a banquet honoring his achievements.

Dr. Perlman is an Adjunct Professor of Pediatric Dentistry at the A. T. Still University of Arizona School of Dentistry and Oral Health, the Lutheran Medical Centers,

the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. He is also Adjunct Professor at the Jamaica School of Technology.

He was the 2013 recipient of the Dr. Robert E. Cooke Achievement Award Achievement Award for Outstanding Leadership and Service and the Allen Crocker, M.D.

Health and Services Award from the state of Massachusetts.

He is the 2013 Holyoke Award recipient for his dedication to improving the lives of children and adults with intellectual disabilities from the North Shore Medical Center, which has over 1,000 physicians on their staff.

In 2014, in Berlin, Germany, International Association for Disability and Oral Health awarded him an Honorary Lifetime Membership.

In 2017, in Graz, Austria, he received the Golisano Global Leadership Pioneer Award.

On September 3, 2018, he received the Honorary Lifetime Member of Arabic Society of Disability and Oral Health.

On October 27, 2018, the University of Louisville School of Medicine dedicated an symposium to Dr. Perlman for being an American Healthcare Hero.

On May 26, 2019, he received the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry’s Ann Page Griffin Humanitarian Award.

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Dr. Erin Potts is 1998 graduate of The University of Texas Dental Branch-Houston.  She is currently an Associate Professor at University of Texas School of Dentistry at Houston(UTSOD) where she works in the Department of General Practice and Dental Public Health as Director of the Special Patients Clinic since 2019.  She is a Clinical Director with the Texas Special Olympics Healthy Athletes program, and has volunteered in and coordinated oral health screening events throughout the state of Texas. She also serves as a faculty advisor for the Student National Dental Association (SNDA) at UTSOD-Houston, where she mentors and provides support, guidance, and oversight for organizational and community projects the SNDA plans and executes throughout each school year.

She possesses many years of practical and clinical experience in the diagnosis, treatment planning, and active clinical management of medically complex patients in a dental setting.  As director of the Special Patients Clinic, she currently serves patients who have received care through The Institute for Rehabilitation and Research (TIRR) Memorial Hermann (TIRR-MH), Transitional Clinics for IDD patients at Baylor College of Medicine, the Houston VA Hospital, and the community at large to receive comprehensive dental care in our clinic.  It is quintessential that pre-doctoral students and dental hygiene students gain clinical experience in managing patients with varying medical complexities.  She believes it is through this exposure and training that we can, in undergraduate training, play an active part in making dental healthcare more accessible and inclusive to all patients.  She also serves as Dental Initiative Lead in the  Southeast Texas Geriatrics Workforce Education Program to create original educational content to train healthcare professionals to care for the elder community.

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Dr Kadambari Rawal, fondly known by her students and patients as “Dr. Kady” serves as a Clinical Associate Professor at Boston University Henry M Goldman School of Dental Medicine and Lecturer of Oral Health Policy and Epidemiology at Harvard School of Dental Medicine. For the past fifteen years, she has been part of BU Dental Health Center's Faculty Practice where she provides full mouth rehabilitation and comprehensive dental services to adults, older adults and adults with special needs. She exclusively practices geriatric dental medicine at the long term care facilities of Hebrew Senior Life and teaches minimally invasive, evidence-based dental medicine strategies for patients with advanced healthcare needs as well as those needing treatment in long term care settings.

She serves on the boards of several organizations, she is the current Chair for the ADEA section on Gerontology and Geriatrics Education. She also serves as the President Smiles For Success Foundation, an organization bringing no cost dental makeovers to women graduates of job placement programs in the US and is the current President of the American Association of Women Dentists Boston, Massachusetts chapter. She served on the board of the American Association of Women Dentists (AAWD) as their Editor in Chief and recently completed her term as the Immediate Past Chair of the Boston District Dental Society as the board’s first woman of color to do so. She has also Chaired the American Dental Education Associations’s (ADEA) special interest group on Internationally Educated Oral Health Professionals. She has contributed to several clinical outreach efforts to bring dental care and oral health education to women and older adults locally, nationally and internationally. She has worked with outreach projects like Missions of Mercy, TeamSmiles, Give Kids a Smile, Smiles for Success and Saving Senior Smiles and India’s first oral health NGO-Angel Dentists Network as their International Liaison. 

Dr. Rawal has won accolades from academic institutions and professional societies and was awarded the prestigious Lucy Hobbs Award in the category of “Woman to watch” in 2016, in 2019 she was awarded the honor of  “Ten under ten” by Massachusetts Dental Society and the American Dental Association giving her national recognition as America’s top ten most accomplished dentists under ten years of practice. She has also won several 40 under 40 awards, in 2019 she was featured on the coveted list by Benco and in 2022 she was featured on the Boston Congress of Public Health & Harvard Public Health Review Journal’s Public Health Catalyst Awards as the only dentist on the list. In 2021 she was awarded the DentaQuest Health Equity award for continuing to provide dental care to the vulnerable geriatric population throughout the pandemic. In 2023, the American Dental Association awarded her the Evidence Based Dentistry (EBD) award in the practice category for being a national leader in the application of EBD guidelines into the daily practice of Dentistry. 

She holds Fellowships in the American Society of Geriatric Dentists, the International College of Dentists, the American College of Dentists and the Pierre Fauchard Academy. She has lectured on Geriatric Dental Medicine at prestigious conventions like the American Dental Association, American Dental Education Association and FDI World Dental Congresses. She has also been invited by Deans and faculty to lecture at universities in North America, South America, Europe, Asia & Africa. She has also worked with universities in India to add Geriatrics to their Bachelor of Dental Surgery curriculum. 

Dr. Rawal treats centenarians (patients over the age of 100) on a daily basis, she is also an avid painter, baker, organic gardener and lives with her husband and son in Boston, USA. 

Irma Ruiter received her M.A. in Communication Disorders & Sciences from the State University of New York in 1984. She worked on a team of professionals as a Speech-Language Pathologist with Bethesda Community Services in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, serving adults with intellectual impairments for 37 years. She is the author of Allow Me: A Guide to Promoting Communication Skills in Adults in Developmental Disabilities, published by the Hanen Centre in 2000. She was trained in the Social Story approach by Carol Gray and had been successfully using social stories as a tool to develop improved interaction and communication skills with the adults with whom she worked for approximately the last 20 years of her career.  

June Sadowsky, DDS, MPH, is a Department of General Practice and Dental Public Health professor at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Dentistry. I am a dentist geriatrician, having completed a fellowship in dental geriatrics as well as geriatric dental research. As a fellow of the American Society of Geriatric Dentistry and a Diplomate of the Special Care Dentistry Association, I have an extensive background in geriatric patient dental treatment both at home and in long-term care facilities. As co-investigator on several university and HRSA grants, I provide the dental component in multidisciplinary projects and advance the importance of oral health in overall general health. Additionally, I contribute to my institution in geriatric clinical education of predoctoral dental students, creating courses and nursing home rotations.

Dr. Anubhuti Shukla is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Dental Public Health and Dental Informatics at Indiana University School of Dentistry (IUSD). She also serves as the Director for the Community Based Dental Education Program at IUSD. She is trained to treat medically complex and special needs patients and as a trained Public Health Dentist, she has a broad background in a variety of community dentistry topics with special focus on Oral Health policies that include oral health workforce capacity and access to quality services in underserved settings. Her unique skill set, which includes specialized training in special needs dentistry (GPR) and a wealth of knowledge in oral health policy and epidemiology, enables her to address the specific needs of patients with complex medical needs. Dr. Shukla approaches dental care with a dedicated focus on public health principles and health equity. 

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Elisabeth Thompson is a dedicated Occupational Therapy Practitioner (OTP) with 24 years of experience. She holds a faculty appointment as a Clinical Instructor at the University at Buffalo in the Pediatric and Community Dentistry Department and serves as the Director of Occupational Therapy at University Pediatric Dentistry.

Recognized for her excellence in teaching with the 2023 Educator Award, Elisabeth has transitioned Occupational Therapy services from a pilot project to a practice plan within dental settings since 2022. This shift has expanded community initiatives and addressed healthcare disparities. She has played a role in training dental students to enhance care for patients with special healthcare needs and has fostered interdisciplinary collaboration.

As a proven leader, Elisabeth has supervised and mentored 14 master’s-level OT students from the US and Canada during their fieldwork in dental settings since summer 2022. She is passionate about improving healthcare outcomes for individuals with special healthcare needs by fostering collaboration between OTPs and dental providers.

Known for her creativity, motivation, and willingness to challenge the status quo, Elisabeth is committed to inspiring healthcare professionals to work cohesively, enhance their skills, and guide future providers to excel both individually and as part of a team.

Recognized for her excellence in teaching with the 2023 Educator Award, Elisabeth has transitioned Occupational Therapy services from a pilot project to a practice plan within dental settings since 2022. This shift has expanded community initiatives and addressed healthcare disparities. She has played a role in training dental students to enhance care for patients with special healthcare needs and has fostered interdisciplinary collaboration.

As a proven leader, Elisabeth has supervised and mentored 14 master’s-level OT students from the US and Canada during their fieldwork in dental settings since summer 2022. She is passionate about improving healthcare outcomes for individuals with special healthcare needs by fostering collaboration between OTPs and dental providers.

Known for her creativity, motivation, and willingness to challenge the status quo, Elisabeth is committed to inspiring healthcare professionals to work cohesively, enhance their skills, and guide future providers to excel both individually and as part of a team.ion

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