Ontario Association of Public Health Dentistry

Dr. Rafael Figueiredo, BDS, MSc (DPH), FRCDC(C)

Dr. Rafael Figueiredo is the Provincial Dental Public Health Officer with Alberta Health Services in Edmonton, Alberta as of September 2014. For the last 13 years, he has been working as a Researcher with the Community Dental Health Services Research Unit at the Faculty of Dentistry, University of Toronto. Further to his research activity and teaching at the Faculty of Dentistry, University of Toronto, he received a Master of Science Degree, M.Sc. in 2011, and a Dental Public Health Specialty Degree in 2014. He has certification in Dental Public Health with the Royal College of Dentists of Canada.

Dr. Figueiredo’s involvement with Dental Public Health and his interest for the vulnerable population started right after his graduation as a dentist. The beginning of his career was dedicated to the provision of dental care to patients with special needs, children and adults. Subsequently, he got involved with dental care with Aboriginal communities in the extreme north of Canada and with oral health prevention to First Nations children in Ontario. More recently he conducted an important research concerning the adult homeless population in Toronto, investigating their oral health status and utilization of hospital emergency departments for dental problems.

PAST PRESIDENT

Dr. Alyssa Hayes, BDent (Hons), MSc, FRCD(C) Alyssa Hayes completed her dental training at the University of Sydney, Australia in 2006. She then accepted a position with the New South Wales (NSW) government as a Dental Officer working in rural NSW. During this Alyssa worked closely with dental therapists, dental assistants and students (both locally and foreign-trained) to deliver care to marginalized populations. After several years working in Australia she returned home to Canada to complete her Dental Public Health specialty training at the University of Toronto. Alyssa’s research focused on the economic impacts of oral health and oral health care. After graduation Alyssa remained active in the Community Dental Health Services Research Unit (CDHRSU) in Toronto and was the Dental Consultant for the Regional Municipality of York before accepting a position as Assistant Professor in the College of Dentistry at the University of Saskatchewan.

PRESIDENT-ELECT

Dr. Mario Brondani, DDS, MSc, MPH, PhD

Mario has over 20 years of experience as a dentist both in private practice and in community clinics. Mario completed his dental training at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul in Porto Alegre (Brazil) in 1994 and his MSc in Geriatrics at the Pontifical Catholic University in 2002 also in Porto Alegre. After working as a clinician within the Brazilian Army, private practice, and non-for-profit clinics in Brazil, Mario came to Canada to pursue a PhD in Dental Sciences (2002-2007) and a MPH (2010-2012) at UBC Faculties of Dentistry and Medicine, respectively.

Mario heads the MPH/Dental Public Health combined program at UBC, coordinates the UBC undergraduate module in dental geriatrics for the DMD program and teaches within the dental hygiene program. His areas of research include community dentistry (oral health programs), HIV (stigma, point of care), dental geriatrics, dental education, and issues around marginalization and health inequalities. Mario is a member of the CAPHD Policy and Advocacy Committee and volunteers in various professional, academic and community organizations at provincial, national and international levels.