Faculty & Staff

Daniela Rodrigues Silva, DDS, MS is the Dr. Thomas K. Barber Endowed Chair, the Director of the Pediatric Residency Program, an Associate Clinical Professor in Pediatric Dentistry and the Chair of the Section of Pediatric Dentistry.
Dr. Silva is originally from Goiânia, Goiás, Brazil. After completing dental school, she owned a pediatric dentistry private practice in Goiânia, Brazil, from 1987 to 2000 and had a part-time faculty position in the Department of Pediatric Dentistry at the School of Dentistry of Anápolis, Goiás, Brazil from 1990-2000, where she was awarded the “Teacher of the Year” for three consecutive years.  Dr. Silva joined the University of Florida College of Dentistry in August 2004 and was the Residency Program Director of the Gainesville and the Naples programs until July 2011, when she joined the UCLA School of Dentistry. Dr. Silva is a Diplomate of the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry.

Francisco Ramos-Gomez, DDS, MS, MPH (Principal Investigator) is Professor of Pediatric Dentistry, board-certified and former Regional Head Start Oral Health Consultant. He conducts research through the NIDCR-UCSF CAN-DO Center to Reduce Oral Health Disparities and has conducted epidemiological surveys and research on early childhood caries (ECC) in San Diego and San Francisco. He has been involved in the Healthy Teeth, Healthy Kids CMS demonstration project in Alameda County and a consultant for the HRSA Bureau of Primary Care Early Childhood Caries Prevention Project and Oral Health Disparities Collaborative focusing on Perinatal and Infant Oral Care. He was the 2009 President of the Hispanic Dental Association and founder of the Multicultural Oral Health Action Committee. A pioneer in designing new strategies, protocols and successful innovative models on the prevention of ECC, Dr. Ramos-Gomez is chair of the Bi-National University of California Oral Health task force, member of the AAPD Scientific Affairs Council and AAPD Perinatal and Infant Oral Health Council, member of the California Oral Health Action Coalition and member of the Executive Committee of the Section on Pediatric Dentistry and Oral Health for the American Academy of Pediatrics. He also is a consultant for the Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA).

James J. Crall, DDS, ScD (Principal Co-Investigator) directs the HRSA/MCHB Leadership Training in Pediatric Dentistry Program. He served as Director of the HRSA/MCHB National Oral Health Policy Center from 2000-2008, was Project Director for the AAPD Head Start Dental Home Initiative from 2007-2010, and has been Child Advocate for the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry since 1995. He has authored or co-authored over 60 peer-reviewed manuscripts and nearly 40 chapters, technical briefs, and commissioned works (including the CMS Guide to Children’s Dental Care in Medicaid).

​Clarice Law, DMD, MS is an Associate Clinical Professor in the Sections of Pediatric Dentistry and Orthodontics at the UCLA School of Dentistry. She is Board Certified in both Pediatric Dentistry and Orthodontics and serves as the Director of the Venice CHAT Pediatric Dentistry Program at UCLA. In 2008, she completed a Fellowship in Medical Education through the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and has since focused her creative activities toward leadership development, curriculum innovation, and use of electronic educational media. She is a co-investigator on an NIH R25 grant, the Oral Health Research Education Grant, which has specific aims targeting the recruitment and retention of academic dentists.

Hamida Askaryar, MPH, RDH, MCHES was the Health Services Manager for the UCLA Early Head Start program for 7 ½ years at the David Geffen School of Medicine. As the Health Services Manager she was responsible for maintaining that the Federally regulated children's program is current and in compliance with all Federal and State child regulations in the areas of health, nutrition and safety. Her other duties included staff education, parent training, grant writing, budget analysis, emergency preparedness, and health screenings. Hamida also participated in creating and conducting an UCLA campus wide health survey through UCLA's healthy campus initiative. As the Program Manager for the Strategic Partnership for Interprofessional Collaborative Education in Pediatric Dentistry (SPICE-PD) she contributes to the development, implementation, and evaluation of the inter-professional pediatric residency project. Her public health interests span into chronic disease prevention, policy, and health equity, among others.  She is the past President of the Southern California Chapter of Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE). She is an experienced Registered Dental Hygienist and worked for several dentists in the San Fernando Valley for many years. She is also a former clinical dental hygiene instructor and a knowledgeable corporate health and wellness screener.  She has a passion for health and wellness and has participated at 5 K runs at UCLA!  Her proudest accomplishment so far is that she was selected the 2017 Outstanding Employee of the Year of the UCLA School of Dentistry. Hamida is a Master Certified Health Education Specialist (MCHES) and holds an MPH from California State University Northridge. 

Stephanie Parkinson is an Administrative Specialist for the UCLA School of Dentistry, Section of Pediatric Dentistry Residency Program (SPICE-PD). Before moving to LA, Stephanie taught English as a second language to students in St. Louis and central Slovakia. In addition to working with a diverse population of students, her responsibilities included curriculum improvement and development, fundraising and donor relations, organizing events and presentations, as well as writing and editing for program-related newsletters and websites. Stephanie enjoys writing, editing, research, traveling, and interacting with people from diverse backgrounds and cultures. She is a graduate of Concordia University, Nebraska with a Bachelor of Arts in English and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) and minors in Writing and Composition/Rhetoric. She is excited to be a part of the UCLA team! 

Dr. Janni Kinsler is currently the project evaluator for the UCLA School of Dentistry’s SPICE PD project. Formerly, she was an Assistant Project Scientist in the Division of General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research at UCLA. She was also a Lecturer in the Department of Preventive Medicine at USC. She specializes in program development and evaluation. Over the past 17 years, she has been the project evaluator on several national and international grants. Since 2002, she has been an evaluation specialist on several HIV-related programs targeting disadvantaged populations in Los Angeles County using both qualitative and quantitative research methods. She has also evaluated media and IT-related projects using mixed methods and was the evaluation specialist/co-investigator on a grant to help governmental and non-governmental organizations in Los Angeles understand, plan and assess programs to address violent extremism. As a Lecturer at USC, she taught a course on global health research and program evaluation. Her experience in conducting formative research and program evaluation in a variety of settings can contribute greatly to the SPICE PD project. Janni Kinsler PhD started working for SPICE October 2018.