Board List

Board Biographies

Harold D. Cox, MSW
Boston University School of Public Health
Harold Cox is the Associate Dean for Public Health Practice at the Boston University School of Public Health. Previously, he was the Chief Public Health Officer for Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he was responsible for managing all aspects of the City's Health Department from public health planning and service delivery to regulatory activities.

Mr. Cox has more than 25 years of professional experience in direct services, administration, and advocacy in a variety of public health settings. Prior to the Cambridge post, he served as the Director of Client Services at the AIDS Action Committee, and several positions serving the disabled population. He is the President of the Massachusetts Public Health Association, member of the Massachusetts Commission on Health Disparities, and member of the Network Health Board of Directors.  He joined the DentaQuest Foundation Board in 2006.

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Fay Donohue
Dental Service of Massachusetts
Ms. Donohue is President and CEO of Dental Service of Massachusetts. Over 25 years of experience, Ms. Donohue has served as Chief Executive Officer of Dental Service of Massachusetts, Executive Vice President of Delta Dental Plan of Massachusetts, Vice President of Marketing at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts, and Vice President of Planning and Marketing at Chartwell Home Therapies.

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Chester W. Douglass, DMD, PhD
Harvard University School of Dental Medicine
Chair of the DentaQuest Foundation Board of Directors
Dr. Douglass is Professor of Oral Health Policy at Harvard University School of Dental Medicine and Professor of Epidemiology at the University's School of Public Health. Prior to that, he was Associate Professor of Health Policy and Management at the University of North Carolina Dental School. Dr. Douglass received his DMD from Temple Dental School in Philadelphia and his Ph.D from the University of Michigan.

Dr. Douglass is a member of the American Dental Association, the American Dental Education Association, and the Massachusetts Public Health Association. He joined the DentaQuest Foundation Board in 2000 and has served as its chair since 2001.  Dr. Douglass also serves on the Boards of the Medical Foundation, Quintiles Transnational, and is the Chairman of the American Boychoir School in Princeton, NJ.

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Neil B. Epstein, DMD, MA
Pediatric Dentist, Retired
Dr. Epstein attended Rutgers University, received his DMD from the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine, and a certificate in Pediatric Dentistry and a masters degree from Columbia University. He spent his career as a beloved pediatric dentist in Western Massachusetts.

He is a member of the American Dental Association, the Valley District Dental Society, the American Society of Dentistry for Children, a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, and the American Academy of Dentistry for the Handicapped. Dr. Epstein is a past member of the DSM Board of Directors and served as its chairman from 2002 through 2007. Dr. Epstein has been a member of the DentaQuest Foundation Board since 2002.

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Caswell A. Evans Jr., DDS, MPH
University of Chicago at Chicago, College of Dentistry
University of Illinois in Chicago, Health Research and Policy Centers
Dr. Evans was the Executive Editor and Project Director for Oral Health in America; A Report of the Surgeon General, released in May 2000. He later directed the development of the National Call to Action to Promote Oral Health, released in April 2003.

Dr. Evan’s role as Associate Dean for Prevention and Public Health Sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and his prior role as the Director of National Oral Health Initiative within the office of the U.S. Surgeon General, put him at the center of oral health discussions at the national level for the past decade.

Prior work as Director of Public-Health Programs and Services in Los Angeles and as Director of the County Division of the Seattle-King County Department of Public Health in Washington State give Dr. Evans local and state level perspectives. He recently joined the Illinois State Board of Health as well as the Chicago Board of Health. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Sprage Institute, a Chicago-based, health-only philanthropy that supports the beginning stages of health-related projects (asthma, childhood obesity and oral health initiatives).

Dr. Evans is a past president of the American Public Health Association, founder of the Association’s Faith Community Caucus, and has served on the board of the National Association of County and City Health Officials. He is a diplomate and past-president of the American Board of Dental Public Health and a past-president of the American Association of Public Health Dentistry.

A hands-on change agent, Dr. Evans believes education is a key requirement for change and is following a mission to ‘create the new dentist for Illinois’. He is currently involved in the modification of curricula for the University of Chicago’s College of Dentistry, requiring students participate in multiple four-week practicums in local communities and in Guatemala and other global underserved areas.  Dr. Evans joined the DentaQuest Foundation Board in 2009.

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Ralph Fuccillo
DentaQuest Foundation
Ralph Fuccillo, before joining the Foundation in 2006, directed the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation. As its Executive Director, Mr. Fuccillo was responsible for the oversight of its investments and partnerships in community health promotion through the Community Service Programs, and the training and development activities conducted by the Institute for Linguistic and Cultural Skills.

Mr. Fuccillo has contributed to the field of prevention through more than 30 years of professional and volunteer experience in education, health and human services, and organizational development in the non-profit sector. Through his collaborative leadership approach, he has focused on the social determinants of health, policy development, and behavior change models to reduce injury and violence, HIV/AIDS, substance abuse, and other preventable illnesses.

Mr. Fuccillo serves on the Board of a number of non-profit organizations, including the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship Program, Elderhostel, Neighborhood Health Plan, and Funders Concerned about AIDS. He is the immediate past President of the AIDS Action Committee Board of Directors and the current President of the MA Health Council. As a member of the Dimock Community Health Center Board of Visitors, he is an advocate and funder for the underserved and the network of community health centers.  Mr. Fuccillo received a masters degree from Fordham University and a bachelors degree from the University of Massachusetts.

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Shepard Goldstein, DMD
Endodontist
After graduating from Tufts Dental School, Dr. Goldstein spent two years as a dentist in the United States Air Force. He completed his endodontic training at The Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia and joined an active private practice limited to endodontics in Framingham, Massachusetts. At that time a new endodontic post doctoral program was starting at Harvard/ Forsyth and he took a position on the endodontic faculty. He continues to serve on the faculty at Harvard School of Dental Medicine.

For the last twenty-plus years, Dr. Goldstein has taken an active role in organized dentistry serving as general chairman of 1995 Yankee Dental Congress, president of the Massachusetts Dental Society from 2002-2003. He currently he holds the position of vice-president of the American Association of Endodontists. Dr. Goldstein joined the DentaQuest Foundation Board in 2005.

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Douglas B. Harding, MBA
Chief Administrative Officer, Retired
Mr. Harding is retired from the position of Chief Administrative Officer at Lahey Clinic in Burlington. Prior to this was senior consultant at Touche, Ross, Bailey & Smart (now Deloitte and Touche). He is also a director of Lahey Clinic Insurance Co. Ltd. in Bermuda and Home Health and Hospice Care of Nashua, NH. He received both his BA and MBA from Harvard University. Mr. Harding is a member of the Massachusetts Society of CPAs, The Treasurers Club, and the Medical Group Managers Association. He also serves as the Conservation Commissioner for the town of Lincoln.  He has been a member of the DSM Board and the DentaQuest Foundation Board since 2002 and served as Vice Chair of the Foundation Board from 2006 to 2008.

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Marion Kane, Executive Director
Barr Foundation, Retired
Marion Kane recently retired as the Executive Director of the Barr Foundation, a new private family foundation serving the greater Boston area. The Foundation was designed around a unique strategic premise – that foundations are really in the knowledge business rather than in the dollars business. Applying this principle has meant designing a foundation that centrally positions knowledge creation and sharing, and transitioning/aligning staffing, programming and grantmaking practices to support knowledge-based goals.

Prior to joining the Barr Foundation in 2000, Marion lived in Maine in where she helped to start Maine Community Foundation, later serving as President. She also was involved in founding the Maine Grantmakers Association and the Maine Information Center which promote the development of philanthropy in Maine and serve the funding and nonprofit community.

Ms. Kane was a founding member of the Advisory Board of the DentaQuest Institute and joined DentaQuest Foundation Board in 2009.

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Donald J. Kenney
EquiServe, Inc., CEO, Retired
As Chairman, President and CEO of EquiServe since 2002, Mr. Kenney has been involved in applying technology to a process-oriented business. With facilities across the United States, EquiServe provides stock transfer services for 1000 companies and 25 million shareholders.

Over 20 years in the banking industry, Mr. Kenney has been involved in the acquisition, rollup and integration of banks. He was a Director of a number of banks owned by First of America Bank Corporation and had responsibility for automation, operations, facilities, and support functions for First of America and its affiliate banks. Mr. Kenney developed and implemented many of the Federal Reserve’s national check collection services. Mr. Kenney joined the DentaQuest Foundation Board in 2009.

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Roderick K. King, MD
Harvard Medical School
Dr. King is the past Division Director of the Boston Regional Division of US Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration. He is a member of the US Public Health Service Commissioned Corp. and a practicing pediatrician at Boston's Children's Hospital. Dr. King is also an instructor at Harvard Medical School in the Department of Social Medicine and does extensive work at the MGH Disparities Solutions Center.

A member of the board for Massachusetts Citizen's for Children, the American Public Health Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Medical Association, National Medical Association and the Massachusetts Medical Society. Dr. King received his BA from The Johns Hopkins University, his MD from Cornell University and he holds an MPH from Harvard School of Public Health.  He joined the DentaQuest Foundation Board in 2003.

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Michael McPherson
The Spencer Foundation
Mr. McPherson is a nationally-known economist with expertise in the interplay between education and economics. For seven years he served as President of Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota (1996 to 2003) and prior to that, he spent 22 years as professor of economics, chairman of the Economics Department and dean of faculty at Williams College, in Massachusetts.  He is currently the fifth President of the Spencer Foundation, established in 1972 to support research about education.

Mr. McPherson is co-author and editor of several books. He has served as a trustee of the College Board, the American Council on Education, and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. He has also been a Fellow of the Institute for Advanced Study and a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. He joined the DentaQuest Board in 2009.

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Linda C. Niessen DMD, MPH, MPP
DENTSPLY International, Chief Clinical Officer
As Vice President, Chief Clinical Officer for DENTSPLY International, Dr. Niessen oversees clinical education activities, professional relations and corporate communications. She also holds a faculty appointment as Clinical Professor in the Department of Restorative Services at Baylor College of Dentistry, a member of the Texas A&M health Sciences Center, in Dallas, Texas. Prior to joining DENTSPLY, Dr. Niessen served as Professor and Chairwoman of the Department of Public Health Services at the Baylor College of Dentistry. Dr. Niessen joined the DentaQuest Board in 2009.

Dr. Niessen has worked to develop the emerging area of geriatric oral research, serving as a founding member of the Geriatric Oral Research Group of the International Association of dental Research. She currently sits on the editorial boards of several scientific journals and has authored and co-authored over 60 articles in peer reviewed journals on topics related to improving oral health for older adults. In the policy arena of post doctoral education in dental public health and geriatric dental care, Dr. Niessen initiated graduate education programs in both disciplines while on the faculty at the Baylor College of Dentistry in partnership with the Department of Veterans Affairs and the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth. She is television correspondent for “Dental Health Check” aired on WFAA-TV, Dallas’ ABC affiliate. 

With this broad perspective of multiple facets of oral health, Dr. Niessen has a unique perspective of the roles dental professionals, professional associations, insurers and the dental industry play in the adoption and transfer of new technology for oral health. Ms. Niessen joined the DentaQuest Foundation Board in 2009.

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Marylou Sudders, ACSW
Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (MSPCC)
Vice Chair, DentaQuest Foundation Board of Directors
Ms. Sudders is the President and CEO of the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. MSPCC is a private, non profit society dedicated to leadership in protecting and promoting the rights and well-being of children and families. One of the largest child and family agencies in the state, MSPCC provides an array of child abuse and neglect prevention and intervention programs and mental health treatment to 30,000 families a year. In addition, MSPCC advocates on issues affecting families and children. In 2004, MSPCC issued "Oral Health & the Commonwealth's Most Vulnerable Children: A State of Decay" highlighting the dental care access crisis for children with Medicaid coverage.

Previously, Ms. Sudders spent seven years as Commissioner of Mental Health for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In this role, she oversaw the public mental health system in the state, providing services to more than 24,000 adults with serious mental illness and children with serious emotional disturbances. In 2005, Ms. Sudders was recognized by the National Association of Social Workers, the highest award for mental health policy.

Ms. Sudders holds a master's degree in social work and a bachelor's degree with honors from Boston University. She joined the DentaQuest Foundation Board of Directors in 2005 and has served as Vice Chair from 2008 to 2009.

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Norman A. Tinanoff, DDS
Department of Health Promotion and Policy, University of Maryland
Dr. Tinanoff’s principal interests are preventing dental caries and improving oral health access for underserved child populations. Dr. Tinanoff has authored or co-authored over 130 full-length publications, primarily on fluoride mechanisms, antimicrobials, caries risk factors, early childhood caries and prevention.

As a practicing dentist involved in policy decisions and the chair of the University of Maryland Department of Health Promotion and Policy, Dr. Tinanoff has a strong point of view on oral health policy and scientific development. As Co-chair of the Dental Action Committee in Maryland, and as a member of multiple committees, Dr. Tinanoff has been involved in deliberations on improvements in Medicaid; he has helped craft legislation aimed at improving Medicaid practices.

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