Just who do you think you are? Exploring your role in caring for patients with periodontitis and diabetes

With over 40 years’ experience as a dental hygienist in private practice, public health, higher education, and government, Casey is an internationally- recognized speaker and an extensively published author. She first began speaking about periodontal-systemic links in 2003, and in 2006, she founded the first publication on oral-systemic medicine, called Grand Rounds in Oral- Systemic Medicine. She is a pioneer in and advocate for incorporating periodontal-systemic science into everyday patient care, medical-dental collaboration, and point-of-care medical testing in dentistry. Casey was an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Periodontics and Director of Education of the International Centre for Oral-Systemic Health at the University of Manitoba in Canada. At the University she led a team in the development of her vision for the first comprehensive curriculum about oral health for physicians, nurses and other non-dental healthcare providers which won for the University of Manitoba the prestigious William J. Gies Award for Outstanding Innovation. She led other award-winning interprofessional initiatives that brought together healthcare providers from dentistry, dental hygiene, medicine, nursing, and pharmacy (among other disciplines) to build collaboration in oral-systemic medicine, including programming in oral-systemic health, “Make the Connection” (2014). This event brought together over 200 physicians, nurses, dentists, dental hygienists, and other healthcare providers, and garnered the University of Manitoba the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons’ 2015 Innovation Award. In the same year, she created and developed another award- nominated interprofessional program, “Obesity Education for front-line Healthcare Providers” (2015). Casey maintains a faculty appointment as an Assistant Professor in the School of Dental Hygiene, at the University of Manitoba, and enjoys a busy speaking schedule, writing, and consulting. She participates on a number of advisory boards and is a reviewer for scientific publications. She was accepted into the National Speakers’ Association in 2008, and she has been continuously voted among Dentistry Today’s Top 100 Clinicians/Consultants in Continuing Education. Casey has a Bachelor of Science degree in Dental Hygiene from West Virginia University and a Master of Business Administration from Loyola University. Several years ago, she relocated from Colorado to Western Maryland to be close to her 3 wonderful children and tribe of 3 beautiful grandsons who she adores. And, she tries, VERY HARD, to squeeze in time for road biking.