ADHA Announces Participant of 2009 DENTSPLY/ADHA Graduate Student Clinicians Program

Chicago, July 1, 2009—The American Dental Hygienists’ Association (ADHA) has recognized Karen Townsend, RDH, MS, of North Reading, Mass., as a participant of the DENTSPLY/ADHA Graduate Student Clinicians Program. She was honored during the DENTSPLY/ADHA Student Clinician Program Awards Banquet at ADHA’s 86th Annual Session in Washington, D.C., on June 19.

The purpose of the DENTSPLY/ADHA Graduate Dental Hygiene Research Program is to promote dental hygiene research by supporting one graduate dental hygiene student from each accredited graduate dental hygiene program offering a Masters of Science Degree in dental hygiene and related disciplines (as identified by the ADHA) to present his/her research at the 2009 ADHA CLL at Annual Session. This program allows the student clinician an opportunity to compete for awards and recognition. The DENTSPLY/ADHA Graduate Dental Hygiene Research Program consists of a poster presentation where the research or clinical findings are presented in a format that includes a hypothesis, methods and materials, results, discussion and a conclusion.

Townsend obtained her Master of Science in dental hygiene at the University of Maryland at Baltimore in 2008; she also received her bachelor’s degree in dental hygiene at Northeastern University in Boston in 2002, and her Certificate in Dental Hygiene at Forsyth School for Dental Hygienists in 2001. She has been an ADHA member since 2001. Currently she works as an assistant professor at Middlesex Community College in Lowell, Mass.

ADHA is the largest national organization representing the professional interests of more than 150,000 dental hygienists across the country. Dental hygienists are preventive oral health professionals, licensed in dental hygiene, who provide educational, clinical and therapeutic services that support total health through the promotion of optimal oral health. For more information about ADHA, dental hygiene or the link between oral health and general health, visit ADHA at http://www.adha.org.

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