Q&A with Dr. Dushanka Kleinman DPH 76, 2026 Best of BU Distinguished Alumni Award Winner
Dr. Dushanka Kleinman DPH 76 was one of four BU alumni to receive a 2026 Distinguished Alumni Award during the 78th Best of BU Award ceremony on Saturday, September 19.
The Boston University Alumni Association annually honors notable alumni for their leadership and impact on local and global communities with the Best of BU Awards—the highest recognition the university gives to alumni.
GSDM Communications had the opportunity to speak with Kleinman following this year’s award ceremony about what she’s learned over the course of 50 years in dental public health.
Questions and responses have been edited for clarity, context information, and length.
How would you describe your career journey in dental public health?
When I chose dentistry as a career and then learned about the magnitude of the oral disease problems in our population, public health was a natural specialization and career direction for me. Dental public health practice, research and education offer many pathways to address health challenges.
My career allowed me to keep learning, work with many others who were passionate about health and wellbeing, and have the ability to contribute to the oral health component of the overall movement toward ensuring our nation’s health and wellbeing is protected and preserved and promoted. The mantra for all of us in oral health at this time is “oral health is health.”
What was your reaction to receiving the 2026 Best of BU Distinguished Alumni Award?
I was surprised and shocked. The other honorees were so incredible and inspirational. I was grateful to the Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine. There are so many outstanding individuals who have contributed to the dental public health field at large, but public health is a process and is never ending. There is always more work to do, and it’s never done by one person. It’s not even done with one group—it is done with groups upon groups upon groups. That’s why I think receiving this award is so humbling and unbelievable.
Is there anyone you would like to thank from GSDM for being influential in you receiving this award?
I want to thank Dr. Michelle Henshaw and Dr. Raul Garcia for their nomination. I was so pleased to have an opportunity to spend time with Dean Cataldo Leone before the event. It gave me an opportunity to learn and hear from him about the direction and the aspirations for GSDM.
I also want to recognize my mentor, Dr. Anthony Westwater Jong. He passed away in the ’90s, but he was instrumental in the early stage of the dental school. He was an associate dean and chairman of the Department of Dental Care Management at the time he passed. He was instrumental in creating the program that I was in, which was one of the first that trained dental hygienists and dentists them together in dental public health as a team and as colleagues. He was forward thinking in that way and a real dynamo in terms of energetic and visionary for public health.
You are now a Boston University Golden Terrier—a term for alumni who graduated 50 or more years ago. How does it feel to reach this milestone and win an award of this magnitude the same year?
The designation of golden terrier surprised me. I had never thought about the years before. I said, “Oh my goodness, where did that time go?” It made me realize that 50 years have passed and there’s still so much more work to do. We need another 50 years, and then another 50 years. We need young folks to join in and to benefit from their innovative, active, and forward-thinking work to make this place a better world. We need a lot more golden terriers.
What is your favorite part about being in the BU alumni community?
One of the things I said at the Best of BU Award ceremony is that I feel like I’ve never really left BU. The dental public health community is very small. The research community is large, but BU—with faculty, staff, and students—is contributing everywhere, nationally, and internationally. I have routine exchanges with people from BU in professional organizations, advisory committees, and many other places. The aspect of community is very strong at BU.
Do you have any advice you would share with current students/residents and young alumni who are in the early stages of their career?
Dentistry is such a rich and broad profession. There are just so many opportunities to contribute to the mission of the profession, which is really focused on making sure you focus on oral health as a vital part of overall health and quality of life. Choosing the profession is just the first step in the process. The pathways from that first step are endless. A career is not a linear experience. You need to be willing to explore new directions. It’s okay to be challenged and sometimes be uncomfortable: You learn more that way. Be willing to take those unexpected pathways.
I am excited for those who are just starting their careers because there’s so much need, but there’s also so much opportunity. We need every one of them to stay the course and not necessarily a straight course but stay for the big picture of what we’re trying to do, which is create a world where oral health is health.