Our Mentors and Advisors
Our Advisory Board: A Multi-Disciplinary Group
Our Expert Panel of Advisors:
- Dr. Allen L. Finkelstein, DDS.
- Dr. Claudia Hanson, MD
- Dr. Mary Lee Conicella, DMD, FAGD
- Dr. Jack Dillenberg, DDS, MPH
See Bio
The Student Oral Health Inititaive is further guided our Advisory Board of experts of healthcare in both academia and industry. Our Advisory Board consists of four of today's most innovative medical and dental pioneers. They will be lending their expertise to the Student Oral Health Initiative by helping us establish quality progress and success measurements.
Bedford HealthCare Solutions
Founder and CEO
Dr. Allen Finkelstein, is the Chief Executive Officer ofBedford HealthCare Solutions and the former Chief Dental Officer of AmeriChoice/United Health Group insuring over 2.5 million lives in dental government coverage.
Dr. Finkelstein is a 1965 graduate of the University of Pittsburgh with a Bachelor of Science degree. In 1969, he graduated with honors from Temple University School of Dentistry in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where he was awarded a Doctor of Dental Surgery degree.
Dr. Finkelstein is a member of the American Dental Association, the Association for State and Territorial Dental Directors, the Essex County Dental Association and the dental associations of the States of New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island. He serves on the New Jersey Dental Medicaid Advisory Committee, New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island Coalitions of Oral Health, the Center for Health Care Strategies, American Friends of the Hebrew University New York Board, the Vice Chair of the Advisory Board of Shils Entrepreneurial Education Fund of the American Dental Association and New York Academy of Sciences.
Dr. Finkelstein is the former President of the Rockland County Dental Society, former Trustee of the Ninth District Dental Society of the State of New York, former member of New York University College of Dentistry Admission Committee and former Trustee of the Alpha Omega International Dental Fraternity.
Dr. Finkelstein is a former Post Preventive Dental Officer at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, receiving the Army Commendation medal for the Preventive Dental Program developed to reduce caries and emergencies for the US Army Dental Corp during the Vietnam. He served on the Forensic Staff at the New York City Medical Examiners Office after September 11th and currently is an advisor to the New City Department of Health for the New York Cares Health Improvement Program.
Dr. Finkelstein is a long time proponent of Integrated Dental and Medical Care and has lectured at dental and medical schools and conferences on the subject of Early Childhood Caries and the need for Medical/Dental Integration to achieve the establishment of a quality outcome based Health Home.
Dr Finkelstein is currently a Clinical Associate Professor of Pediatric Dentistry at New York University, College of Dentistry, an adjunct facility member of the Arizona School of Dentistry and Oral Health of the AT Still University, a member of the Harvard University School of Dental Medicine, Leadership Council, a member of the Global Dental School Alliance and a member of the Visitor’s Board of the Kornberg School of Dentistry at Temple University. He testified before the Domestic Policy Subcommittee on and Government Reform in the United States House of Representatives on “Evaluating Pediatric Dental Care under Medicaid” and advised Congressman Elijah Cummings of Maryland on the Child Health Insurance Plan Reform Act on dental coverage.
In Addition, Dr. Finkelstein has been active in many community activities both philanthropies and dental outreach programs for the underserved.
Dr. Finkelstein has passed the National Dental Boards, North East Regional Boards, and is licensed to practice dentistry in New York and New Jersey. He currently maintains a dental practice, specializing in Periodontal Prosthesis located in Great Neck, New York.
Senior Medical Director; Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of NJ
Dr. Hanson is a Senior Medical Director at Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of NJ. She has been an advocate for the underserved for throughout her career; prior to joining Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of NJ, Dr. Hanson served as the senior Medical Director of Quality and Case Management working with the underserved. In 1999 she worked in New York at a large HMO to develop a geriatric case management department which was selected for publication in Population Health Management in August, 2008. As demonstrated in this publication, Dr. Hanson is an instrumental leader and innovator quality-centered managed care.
Dr. Hanson is a dually Board Certified Medical Doctor of Internal Medicine and Pulmonology, and has over two decades of experience as a practicing physician. Dr. Hanson did her training at UMDNJ in Newark, New Jersey, where she was selected Chief Resident.
Dr. Hanson is a role model for all aspiring physicians, and has been instrumental in molding the professional character of our initiative's student directors.
Dean; Arizona School of Dentistry and Oral Health
Dr. Jack Dillenberg is the inaugural dean of the Arizona School of Dentistry & Oral Health. Dr. Dillenberg received his master’s degree in public health from Harvard School of Public Health and completed his dental education at New York University, College of Dentistry. He received his undergraduate degree from Tulane University in New Orleans. Prior to joining the Arizona dental school, Dr. Dillenberg was associate director for public health programs in the California Department of Health Services and prior to that was area health officer serving the west area of the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services. Dr. Dillenberg also is president of Dillenberg & Friends Health Services Consulting providing a full scope of health services consulting. During most of the 1990s, Dr. Dillenberg served in several capacities in the Arizona Department of Health Services, including director for more than four years and assistant director in the Division of Family Health Services. Dr. Dillenberg has also served in numerous positions on health-related boards and associations and is the recipient of a great number of honors and awards, including the U.S Public Health Service Chief Dental Officer’s Service Award and the Harvard School of Public Health Alumni Award of Merit. Dr. Dillenberg is recognized at the local, state, and national levels as an expert in the area of public health leadership, health program development, social marketing, oral health issues, health center design, training of community health workers, community organizing, and lecture presentations.
Aetna Chief Dental Officer
Dr. Conicella received her B.S. in Medical Technology from the University of Pittsburgh and her D.M.D. from Temple University School of Dentistry in 1987. Dr. Conicella received her Fellowship in the Academy of General Dentistry in Toronto in 2000.
Dr. Conicella was in private practice prior to joining Aetna, and is on the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine, where she has taught since 1992. She began her career with Aetna in 1997 as a dental consultant in dental utilization management, eventually assuming the role of Chief Dental Officer in 2005. She was instrumental in developing Aetna's Dental-Medical Integration initiative and has co-authored several abstracts and articles published in collaboration with Columbia University College of Dental Medicine, related to their joint research on the impact dental care has on overall health.
Dr. Conicella resides in Pittsburgh, PA. Her professional affiliations include the American Dental Association, the National Dental Association Corporate Round Table, the Academy of General Dentistry, the Omicron Kappa Upsilon scholastic fraternity, the Temple University School of Dentistry Board of Visitors and the University of Connecticut School of Dental Medicine Advisory Board. She serves as chairman of America's Health Insurance Plans' dental code work group, and is a member of the National Association of Dental Plans' Professional Relations Committee.
