CARE-PD Faculty

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).

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.

James J. Crall, DDS, ScD 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).

Lisa B. Nguyen, D.D.S is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Pediatric Dentistry and the Associate Director for the Community-Based Clinical Education (CBCE) program at UCLA School of Dentistry to enhance education while increasing access to care for underserved populations. She also serves as a clinician delivering direct patient care at a Federally Qualified Health Center. Dr. Nguyen has clinical and quality improvement experience in various dental delivery models and is responsible for building and improving robust pediatric dentistry components within these models

Dr. Vinodh Bhoopathi., BDS, MPH, DScD is an assistant professor in the Division of Public Health and Community Dentistry at UCLA school of dentistry.  He is a diplomate of the American Board of Dental Public Health with a Doctorate of Science in Dentistry in Dental Public Health degree from Boston University. Dr. Bhoopathi’s research interests include oral health disparities, access to care, workforce issues, and nutrition and obesity’s impact on oral health.

CARE-PD Staff

Janni Kinsler, PhD is currently the Project Evaluator for the UCLA School of Dentistry’s CARE-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 CARE-PD project. Dr. Kinsler started working for CARE in October 2018.

Stephanie Parkinson is the Project Coordinator for the UCLA School of Dentistry, Section of Pediatric Dentistry Residency Program (CARE-PD). Before joining the CARE-PD team, 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. 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.