Improving global oral health through prevention, innovation
Pakistan has a villainous rate of oral cancer, and Salima is heading an effort to educate some of the country’s first dental hygienists who can potentially put a stop to it. As director of the preventive dentistry program at the Aga Khan University in Karachi, Salima is helping to create jobs, educate a new workforce, and build the country’s capacity to prevent and treat oral cancer and other oral diseases. To do this, she’s had to establish an entirely new scope of study and clinical practice.
Salima also teaches courses in dental hygiene and theory - all of which had to move online during the COVID-19 pandemic. So far, 35 students have graduated from the program. Many have gone on to deliver oral health care in rural areas in Pakistan and in other vulnerable communities around the globe where it is needed most. Prior to moving to South Central Asia, Salima dedicated more than 20 years to training dentists and dental hygienists in Washington state to screen, prevent and treat diseases that affect the teeth and gums.
Affiliations: Director, Dental Hygiene Program, Aga Khan University; The Aga Khan Development Network
Note: The Online Executive MPH degree is now called the Online MPH degree.