Penn Dental Medicine Names Leaders of New Care Center for Persons with Disabilities

Dr. Miriam R. Robbins, Director

Philadelphia – Penn Dental Medicine is pleased to announce the successful recruitment of leadership for the School’s new Care Center for Persons with Disabilities, naming Dr. Miriam R. Robbins as Director and Dr. Alicia Risner-Bauman as Associate Director. Their appointments to these new posts are effective in February and January, respectively.

“We are thrilled to have Drs. Robbins and Risner-Bauman joining Penn Dental Medicine,” says Penn Dental Medicine’s Morton Amsterdam Dean, Dr. Mark S. Wolff. “They both share our service and educational vision for the Care Center for Persons with Disabilities and bring a depth of experience as clinicians and educators that will greatly support our patients and students.”

Dr. Robbins comes to Penn Dental Medicine from New York University (NYU) Langone – Long Island (formerly known as NYU Winthrop Hospital) where since 2015 she has been Chair in the Department of Dental Medicine. Since 2019, Dr. Robbins has also served as Chair of the Department of Family Dental Medicine at NYU Long Island School of Medicine and as an attending in the Department of Plastic Surgery at NYI Langone Medical Center. Her most recent faculty appointments include Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Family Dental Medicine, NYU Long Island School of Medicine since 2019, and Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology, Radiology and Medicine, at NYU College of Dentistry since 2015.

Dr. Robbins brings extensive experience working with special healthcare needs patients, having led the NYU College of Dentistry Special Needs Clinic as Director from 2002 to 2015. Among other appointments over that period at NYU, she also served as Clinical Associate Professor and Associate Chair of the Department of Oral Medicine (2002-2005) and the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology, Radiology and Medicine (2005-2015) and was an attending in the Department of Surgery at NYU Langone Medical Center (2002-2015). Prior to this time at NYU, Dr. Robbins taught at Baltimore College of Dental Surgery from 1996 to 2002 and also served as Division Head of Hospital Dentistry and Director of the General Practice Residency, Department of Dentistry and Maxillofacial Surgery, University of Maryland Medical Center.

Active within organized dentistry, Dr. Robbins has been President of both the Special Care Dentistry Association (2016-2017) and the American Academy of Oral Medicine (2017-2018). A Diplomat of the American Board of Special Care Dentistry (2009), Dr. Robbins holds a DDS from SUNY at Buffalo Dental Medicine (1987) and an MS in Health Policy from the NYU Wagner School (1995). Her postgraduate study included a dental residency at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center (1988) and a fellowship in the Department of Surgery at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (1989).

Dr. Alicia Risner-Bauman, Associate Director

In the position of Associate Director, Dr. Risner-Bauman brings a depth of clinical care experience in public health settings to Penn Dental Medicine, most recently serving as a General Dentist, Department of Surgery of Binghamton General Hospital (2020) as well as Dental Clinic Supervisor of Broome Dental Center within the New York State (NYS) Office for People with Developmental Disabilities (2019-2020). Her other posts as Dental Clinic Supervisor were with the NYS Department of Corrections (2018); Tioga Dental Services (2009-2015), serving uninsured and underinsured patients; the Cerebral Palsy and Handicapped Children’s Association of Chemung County (2005-2009); and the Chemung County Health Department (1999-2004). Dr. Risner-Bauman’s previous faculty appointments include Assistant Professor of Restorative Dentistry, General Practice Faculty Preceptor, Erie Outreach Clinic, Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine School of Dental Medicine (2016-2018).

A Diplomate of the American Board of Special Care Dentistry (2019), Dr. Risner-Bauman earned her DDS at the University of Iowa (1993) and completed a fellowship with the Academy of Dentistry for Persons with Disabilities, American Board Special Care Dentistry (2011).

Dr. Risner-Bauman has also been an active member in organized dentistry having served as Co-Chair of the NY Special Care Dentistry Task Force (2008-2009), ADA Council Member for PA (2015-2019), PDA Access to Care Advisory Group Chair (2013-2015), NYSDA Task Force on Public Health and Access (2007-2011), Board member for PA Coalition for Oral Health(2015-2019), and as a governor appointee to the PA Department of Health Advisory Health Board (2010-2020). She continues to work with these organizations to improve community health and access to care for individuals with disabilities.

As Associate Director of the new Care Center for Persons with Disabilities, Dr. Risner-Bauman will serve as a clinical faculty member within the Center and work closely with Dr. Robbins to help manage the Center’s personnel, faculty, students, and patients.

Drs. Robbins and Risner-Bauman will both have joint faculty appointments within Penn Dental Medicine’s Department of Oral Medicine and Department of Preventive and Restorative Sciences. Dr. Robbins to be named Professor of Clinical Oral Medicine and Professor of Clinical Restorative Dentistry and Dr. Risner-Bauman, Assistant Professor of Clinical Oral Medicine and Assistant Professor of Clinical Restorative Dentistry.

Update 2/15/21: The Care Center is also the new clinical care home at the School for medically complex patients—those individuals who may have bleeding or lung disorders, infectious diseases, cancer, or other medical conditions that can make the management of their dental care more complicated. Leading this segment of the patient care is Temitope Omolehinwa, assistant professor of oral medicine, serving as the Care Center’s other associate director.