<br/>
<br/>
Joni D. Nelson, PhD, MS
MUSC College of Graduate Studies, Class of 2011
MUSC College of Dental Medicine's first African American Associate Professor
Deputy Director Division of Population Oral Health ,James B. Edwards College of Dental Medicine, with a dual appointment in the Department of Public Health Sciences, College of Medicine
<br/>
Joni Dunmyer Nelson, PhD, MS, a native of Ravenel, SC, earned her doctorate in Public Health from the Arnold School of Public Health in Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior from the University of South Carolina and her Master’s in Biomedical Sciences from the MUSC College of Graduates Studies in 2011.
<br/>
As a Health Promotion, Education, and Behavioral Specialist, Nelson's research foci are qualitative research evaluation, social determinants of health equity, quality improvement science, and collaborative care workforce models to reduce rural oral health inequities, in support of an interprofessional approach to improve population health outcomes. She is the program director for the Dental Safety Net Certificate Program and teaches a public health research methods course. Nelson was appointed as a 2017 National Rural Health Association Fellow and serves as the National State Representative of South Carolina for DentaQuest Foundation’s Oral Health 2020 Network, an initiative to improve oral health for all.