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Monday Roundtable Luncheon
Brian Hollander, DMD
Dentist
Southcentral Foundation
Briana Rowland, MBA
Manager, Oral Health Programs
ADA Foundation
The ADA Foundation engages in a number of activities to support the improvement of global oral health. These activities include professional education, oral health infrastructure development, community dental public health, and humanitarian outreach programs.
To help dentists looking for volunteer opportunities outside of the U.S., the ADAF provides an international volunteer webpage (www.adafoundation/internationalvolunteer). Potential volunteers can search among 125+ listed organizations that offer volunteer opportunities for dental professionals and learn about how to select a volunteer program and location, how to prepare for a trip, and what to expect upon the return home. They can also download the International Dental Volunteer Guide.
The ADAF sponsors the oral health programs of Health Volunteers Overseas (HVO). These programs build the local capacity by providing health care professionals in resource-scarce countries with the knowledge, skills, and abilities required to address the health care needs of their communities. There are currently six ADAF/HVO programs in Cambodia, Haiti, Laos, Nepal, and Tanzania recruiting volunteers. Volunteers are asked to supplement the current dental school curriculum with lectures and clinical instruction. Learn more about HVO at www.hvousa.org.
The ADAF unites the global dental profession by fundraising for international disasters. Past fundraising efforts have benefited programs in Haiti, Japan, the Philippines, and Nepal, following disaster events in those countries. The ADAF also fields requests from NGOs involved in oral health, as well as dentists who may need in-kind donations for international dental missions, and works to connect them to industry contacts.