Dental Hygiene, Research, Students

Chen Presented, Recognized at National Oral Health Conference

Li Chen, member of the dental hygiene class of 2013, was recognized at the 2013 National Oral Health Conference in Huntsville, Ala. During this conference, she also had the opportunity to present some of her research to the attendees.

Chen previously won second place for the Dental Hygiene Student Merit Award for Outstanding Achievement in Community Health Dentistry from the American Association of Public Health Dentistry. The award recognizes Chen for her community health program, where she developed a role play training video to teach home health aides to be an early gateway in assisting homebound older adults to seek dental care. As the second place winner, she received a cash award of $300 ($100 of which was to offset the costs of attending the National Oral Health Conference), a plaque, a one-year membership in AAPHD and a one-year subscription to the Journal of Public Health Dentistry.

By winning, Chen also had the opportunity to present her research poster about her community health program, entitled “Developing an Educational Training Video for Home Health Aides,” as a part of the National Oral Health Conference poster session. She was presented her plaque at the conference during the AAPHD Special Merit and Student Awards Presentation on April 22.

“We’re all very proud of Li for her accomplishment and her dedication to improving people’s oral health,” said Dr. Sally Mauriello, professor in the Department of Dental Ecology. “She is a wonderful representative of her UNC dental hygiene classmates and we’re excited she was able to share her project with the audience at the National Oral Health Conference.”