Dr. Jeanne C. Sinkford

. . . Oral health is directly related to systemic health. The mouth is an organ that is responsible for speech, taste, swallowing and the first stages of digestion.

Jeanne C. Sinkford, DDS, PhD, DSc, FACD, FICD

In September of 1966, I first became aware of Dr. Jeanne C. Sinkford through her sister-in-law, Madeleine Sinkford. Most recently, Dr. Leslie Smithey, a colleague in my department at Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center, informed me that her mother had been the salutatorian to Jeanne's valedictory position at Dunbar High School in Washington, D.C. Between those two times the good doctor and I have frequently trod many of the same paths. Whether it was over dinner with her husband, Stanley, at an American Dental Education Association meeting in Montreal, or at an annual meeting of the National Dental Association, Jeanne has impressed me with her dignity, beauty, patience, and brilliant mind.

Our careers also became indirectly entwined when she retired after 16 years as the Dean of the Howard University School of Dentistry (the first woman to be dean of a U.S. dental school) and I was offered the opportunity to succeed her. After a very close review of that situation, I was better able to appreciate the outstanding contributions of this giant to dental education in particular and minority dentistry in addition. (I did not attempt to fill her shoes and turned down the Deanship offer.)

My first introduction to Jeanne Sinkford's activities in addressing the shortcomings related to the recruitment and retention of ethnic minorities into dentistry occurred in 1980 during the first and only joint meeting of the Black professional organizations of dentistry, law, nursing, and pharmacy in Dallas, TX. Dr. Joseph Henry presented a lecture based on an article written with Dr. Sinkford. Therefore, it was not surprising to me when she accepted her current position with American Dental Education Association (ADEA) after leaving Howard University.

Dr. Sinkford is a 1953 Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Howard University with a degree in psychology and chemistry. Her professional academic education continued at Howard University College of Dentistry. After a 1958 dental school graduation, she joined the Howard faculty in the Division of Prosthodontics. Two years later, she moved with her husband to Chicago and attended Northwestern to study for a doctorate in physiology while undergoing post-graduate training in the field of prosthodontics.

Soon after her return to Howard in 1964, she became the chairperson of the Division of Prosthodontics, and a full professor in 1967. During a sabbatical leave in 1974–75, she served at Children's Hospital National Medical Center (during which she completed a Pediatric Dental Residency). Her next return to Howard University brought about her revolutionary appointment as the first female dean of a U.S. dental school. Dr. Sinkford had the distinction of being the only woman dean of a U.S. dental school for nearly 25 years.

An internationally renowned educator, Dr. Sinkford has

• 1 been recognized with honorary degrees from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Detroit-Mercy University, and Georgetown University, and

• 2 received presidential citations from the American Dental Association and the National Dental Association.

Her service on national councils and committees include the following:

• 3 Special Medical Advisory Group for the Veterans Administration,

• 4 Council of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences,

• 5 Board of Visitors of the School of Graduate Dentistry of Boston University,

• 6 Board of Visitors of the University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine,

• 7 Board of Overseers of the School of Dental Medicine, University of Pennsylvania,

• 8 Tuskegee Study Ad Hoc Advisory Panel,

• 9 The Select Panel for the Promotion of Child Health, Advisory committee on Women and Health, Women and Health Roundtable,

• Congressional Black Caucus Health Brain Trust committee, and

• Consultant to the Technical Advisory Committee of the White House Conference on Aging.

When I recently questioned her about the work of her professional lifetime, she informed me that the most significant things for her (beyond the obvious deanship accomplishments) include:

1. . Seminal research with Dr. Milton Bernard (at the time a resident in the...