Cynthia Booth Lord of Cheshire named Oral Health Champion for 2014

Hamden, Conn - Dec 4, 2014 - The Connecticut Oral Health Initiative (COHI), a non-profit orgranization whose mission is to promote oral health for all, has named Cynthia Booth Lord, of Cheshire, clinical associate professor of physician assistant studies at Quinnipiac University, as its Oral Health Champion for 2014.

 "Cindy was recognized for her continued dedication to increasing advocacy, aware and education with the goal of improving oral health for all," said Mary Boudreau, executive director of COHI.

 While accepting the award at the COHI's annual meeting at the Inn at Middletown on Dec. 3, Lord provided an overview of Smiles for Life, the National Interprofessional Initiative on Oral Health's curriculum for integrating oral and general health.

 "I am humbled and excited to receive this award as it supports the medical-dental collaboration we are creating here in Connecticut," Lord said.  "Oral health is the lowest hanging fruit of prevention. As a medical provider, it is important that we put the mouth back into the body to help improve the overall health of our patients."

 "My call for action is to use collective impact to create an oral health movement here in Connecticut," Lord said. "Oral health is the perfect exemplar of a strategy for teaching interprofessional education. Having a shared vision helps campus and community oral health champions grow initiatives that bridge education and clinical practice to foster health professionals who view themselves as interprofessional partners, share patient management with other providers and focus on patient need, not on the disease process."

 Lord joined Quinnipiac in 1994. She holds a physician assistant degree from Yale University, a master's degree from Quinnipiac and a bachelor's degree from the University of Connecticut. 

 Lord has had a distinguished career of serving in leadership roles within the American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA) since 1992. Most recently, she served as AAPA board president and then chairman of the board from 2008-2010. Lord has held similar leadership roles with the Connecticut Academy of Physician Assistants (ConnAPA), including serving as ConnAPA's president and the Connecticut Physician Assistant Foundation's president.

Lord also serves on the Primary Care Progress National Advisory Board, the National Interprofessional Initiative on Oral Health (NIIOH), as well as the chair-elect of the National Commission on the Certification of PAs Health Foundation (nccPA Health Foundation). She also is the current co-chair of the Connecticut Coalition on Oral Health Workforce Development Workgroup.

Quinnipiac is a private, coeducational, nonsectarian institution located 90 minutes north of New York City and two hours from Boston. The university enrolls 6,500 full-time undergraduate and 2,500 graduate students in 58 undergraduate and more than 20 graduate programs of study in its School of Business and Engineering, School of Communications, School of Education, School of Health Sciences, School of Law, Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine, School of Nursing and College of Arts and Sciences. Quinnipiac consistently ranks among the top regional universities in the North in U.S. News & World Report's America's "Best Colleges" issue. The 2015 issue of U.S. News & World Report's America's "Best Colleges" named Quinnipiac as the top up-and-coming school with master's programs in the Northern Region. Quinnipiac also is recognized in Princeton Review's "The Best 379 Colleges." The Chronicle of Higher Education has named Quinnipiac among the "Great Colleges to Work For." For more information, please visit www.quinnipiac.edu. Connect with Quinnipiac on Facebook at www.facebook.com/quinnipiacuniversity and follow Quinnipiac on Twitter @QuinnipiacU.