Dolores Cannella, MA, PhD, associate dean for education at Stony Brook School of Dental Medicine, has been elected as secretary of the American Dental Education Association (ADEA) Section on Academic Affairs. The announcement came at the ADEA Annual Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana, in March.
In this position, Dr. Cannella will help to fulfill the section's mission of advancing dental education by supporting efforts to strengthen curricula, enhance teaching methodologies and assessment techniques, and optimize student learning and development. She will serve as secretary until the 2025 Annual Meeting in National Harbor, Maryland, at which point she will assume the role of chair-elect. At the meeting in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in 2026, she will ascend to the rank of chair.
"I am excited to assume this leadership position for the premier organization in dental education," Dr. Cannella said. "With my colleagues from other institutions around the country, I believe that we can create an even brighter future at each of our schools and – most importantly – for our students."
Dr. Cannella joined the faculty at the school as an assistant professor in 2007. She was promoted to associate professor with continuing appointment in 2014, and was appointed to the associate dean role in 2015. Additionally, she served as director of behavioral sciences, practice management, and ethics and professionalism in the Department of General Dentistry from 2008 to 2015.
Dr. Cannella’s teaching and research interests focus on interprofessional education, program evaluation and student success, and the utilization of social psychological theories in the promotion of health behaviors. She was a Co-PI on a 2015 HRSA funded initiative to develop patient-centered interprofessional healthcare delivery teams to improve access to health promotion and disease prevention services to geriatric and medically complex adults. For her effectiveness as an educator, Dr. Cannella was the recipient of the Omicron Kappa Upsilon (OKU) Charles Craig Teaching Award in 2014.
Dr. Cannella earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in general and experimental psychology from Long Island University, and her PhD in social and health psychology from Stony Brook University.
