{"id":26,"date":"2026-04-14T06:31:31","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T06:31:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/authorwebservices-gem2.net\/XLUS\/869024\/?page_id=26"},"modified":"2026-04-14T07:41:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T07:41:33","slug":"about-the-author","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/authorwebservices-gem2.net\/XLUS\/869024\/about-the-author\/","title":{"rendered":"About the Authors"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Jeanne Craig Sinkford, DDS, MS, PhD, DSc, FACD, FICD<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Sinkford is nationally and internationally recognized as a dental educator, administrator, researcher, and clinician who is equally admired for her dedication, warmth, and grace. In 1975, she was the first woman worldwide to serve as dean of a College of Dentistry, a lifetime appointment. After serving as dean for sixteen years, she retired in 1991, only to be appointed a professor and Dean Emerita for the next three decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upon her retirement as dean, Dr. Sinkford also became the director of the Office of Women and Minority Affairs at the American Dental Education Association (ADEA) in Washington, DC. By 2015, she became ADEA\u2019s Senior Scholar-in-Residence and was recognized as ADEA\u2019s prime mover for priority and gender policies and programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Sinkford launched the International Women\u2019s Leadership Conference in 1998 to bring together women leaders in diverse fields: corporate, education, health policy, governmental, and foundations from twenty-five countries. They met in Cannes-Mandelieu, France, to share stories and strategies to impact global oral health in institutions. In 2019, the fifth International Women\u2019s Leadership Conference was held in Brescia, Italy. She considers the opportunity to serve on the nine-member panel in 1972 to study the infamous \u201c1932 Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment\u201d as one of the most \u201cimpactful moments.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Sinkford has received numerous awards and five honorary doctorate degrees for her contributions to the advancement of education, scientific research, oral health, the elimination of disparities in health for minorities, and social justice. In addition, she is a scholar who has published more than one hundred scholarly articles, a manual for crown and bridge prosthodontics, and a book on the history of Blacks in dentistry. Also, Dean Emerita Sinkford has served in an advisory and leadership capacity to many national health and science organizations. She has been a member of the Institute of Medicine National Academy of Science since 1975.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Donna Grant-Mills, DDS, M.Ed., RDH, FACD<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Donna Grant-Mills is a professor and associate dean for Student Affairs and Admissions at Howard University College of Dentistry. She also serves as principal investigator for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Summer Health Professions Education Program (SHPEP), coinvestigator for the Health Resource and Services Administration (HRSA) Scholarships for Disadvantaged Students Program (SDSP), and the College of Dentistry representative for the Health Sciences Interprofessional Education (IPE) Workgroup at Howard University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Grant-Mills is responsible for teaching, administration, and directing the implementation and operations of the RWJF Projects, the recruitment component of the HRSA SDSP, and Health Sciences IPE activities. She has five decades of progressive experience in health care, including dental assisting, dental hygiene, and general dentistry practice in diverse settings; allied dental and dental education; hospital\/based oral health care management; and IPE program development. She has published and presented scholarly work in the United States and abroad. Her international presentations have been in Salvador, Brazil, and Barcelona, Spain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Grant-Mills obtained the Certificate in Dental Hygiene and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Education from The Ohio State University, the Master of Education Degree from the University of Cincinnati, and the Doctor of Dental Surgery Degree from Howard University. She is a Fellow of the International College of Dentists and the American
College of Dentists. She also holds membership in the American Dental Education Association, the National Dental Association, and the Robert T. Freeman Dental Society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Andrea D. Jackson, DDS, MS, FACP, FICD<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dean Jackson has been involved in education at the College of Dentistry for over thirty years. Since 2019, Dr. Andrea D. Jackson has served as dean of the College of Dentistry at Howard University, the nation\u2019s fifth-oldest dental school. The college is an integral unit of the entire Howard University Health Sciences Enterprise and consists of the College of Medicine, Pharmacy, Nursing, Allied Health Sciences, Howard University Hospital, Faculty Plan, Student Health Center, and the Louis Stokes Health Sciences Library. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before being appointed dean, she led the College as department chair, associate dean for clinical affairs, and interim dean. In addition, perhaps memorable childhood encounters drew her to the College of Dentistry at Howard University\u2014an uncle was a student in the dental program, a grandparent received treatment at the College of Dentistry, and she remembers visiting the College of Dentistry for an orthodontic evaluation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dean Jackson is a three-time graduate of Howard, completing the BS\/DDS program, receiving a combined Bachelor of Science and Doctor of Dental Surgery degree from the University, and completing a one-year post-doctoral residency certificate program in General Dentistry from Howard University Hospital. In addition, with the encouragement of Dr. Jeanne C. Sinkford as her former dean, Dr. Jackson completed specialty training, receiving a certificate and Master of Science degree in prosthodontics at Georgetown University School of Dentistry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dean Jackson is distinguished as a board-certified prosthodontist. She began her academic career as an instructor in the Department of Restorative Dentistry but served in positions at every level in the College. Dr. Jackson has witnessed the continued growth and success of the College of Dentistry and its alumni, who practice in more than forty states and fiftythree countries. Other significant leadership roles include extensive work with the American Dental Education Association (ADEA) and as a past president of the prosthodontics section.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Fatima M. Mncube-Barnes, Ed.D., MPH, MSIS, MBA<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Fatima Barnes has worked in various capacities in higher education institutions for over thirty years, including two historically Black universities and colleges that are instrumental in educating Black health professionals. She currently serves as the executive director of the Louis Stokes Health Sciences Library at Howard University. Before she arrived at Howard University in 2016, Dr. Barnes was associate vice president of academic computing, associate professor, and director of the Medical Library at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee. Her enthusiasm for informatics and the preservation of historical information contributed to creating archival databases and displays that bridge cultures through pivotal institutional treasures. Examples include leading archival projects culminating in digitizing alum records from 1876 to 1970 yearbooks, catalogues, and convocation programs to create a searchable database, and creating exhibits to highlight health professional alums who were catalysts of change in underserved African American communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Innovative library services extend beyond study spaces. In addition to supporting teaching and learning, the role of academic libraries has evolved to include functions and responsibilities beyond those taught in library schools. For example, having a broad array of competence, service, versatile knowledge, management, and technology skills contributes to the effective leadership of a health science library.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Barnes received her undergraduate degree in Organizational Behavior and Management at Brown University. She specialized in technology, innovation, and education in her master\u2019s degree at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She later obtained a doctoral degree in Curriculum and Instruction from Tennessee State University. Dr. Barnes also earned a master\u2019s degree in public health and public health informatics from the University of Illinois. In addition, she received a master\u2019s degree in information science from the University of Tennessee and completed an MBA in Healthcare Management from the West Governors\u2019 University. Her passion for continuing education is evident in her current pursuit of a doctoral degree in Nutritional Sciences at Howard University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As part of the senior administrative leadership team under the Provost and Chief Academic Officer, Dr. Barnes provides the direction for the budget, services, planning, and management of the Louis Stokes Health Sciences Library to support the students, deans, and faculty of the Health Science Center of the \u201cMecca.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Shelley D. Stokes, MA<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shelley Stokes-Hammond is a writer, editor, local historian, and historic preservationist whose work has been published with Cleveland State University, the White House Historical Society, and the National Alliance for Preservation Commissions. Her most notable work, Recognizing Ludlow: A National Treasure\u2014a community that stood firm for equality, was a primary resource for designating the Ludlow Community Association as one of ten sites for the African American Civil Rights Trail in Cleveland, Ohio. In addition, Shelley was a governor appointee to the Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture for several years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shelley is the daughter of former Congressman Louis Stokes, who served in the US House of Representatives from 1969 to 1999. The Louis Stokes Health Sciences Library at Howard University is named in honor of the late, venerable congressman for his thirty-year crusade combating disparities in healthcare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shelley retired from Howard University in 2015 after serving as the Development and Public Relations Officer at The Founders Library for Howard University Libraries for almost two decades. In addition to historical research and writing at Howard, she organized special programs, including the Faculty Authors Celebration, which honored faculty campuswide for their scholarship and publications on an annual basis. Before Howard, she had an extensive career in management with Verizon Inc. (formerly Bell Atlantic).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In support of persons who face challenges in mental health, for several years, Shelley has served on the Board of Directors of the Maryland Coalition for Families and the Diversity Equity Inclusion Action Council (DEIAC) of the International OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) Foundation (IOCDF). She is a former member of the Advocacy Working Group (AWG) that promotes legislative reforms through the National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI) in Montgomery County, Maryland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A product of public schools in Cleveland and Shaker Heights, Ohio, Shelley earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in English Composition and Literature from Ohio University. She completed graduate studies in Writing, Editing, and Publications at Georgetown University and obtained a Master of Arts degree in Historic Preservation at Goucher College.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jeanne Craig Sinkford, DDS, MS, PhD, DSc, FACD, FICD Dr. Sinkford is nationally and internationally recognized as a dental educator, administrator, researcher, and clinician who is equally admired for her dedication, warmth, and grace. In 1975, she was the first woman worldwide to serve as dean of a College of Dentistry, a lifetime appointment. After<\/p>\n

Continue Reading “About the Authors”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template-full.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-26","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t