{"id":8146,"date":"2024-06-10T21:11:49","date_gmt":"2024-06-10T21:11:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nau.edu\/college-health-human-services\/?p=8146"},"modified":"2026-06-18T21:14:30","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T21:14:30","slug":"heather-thomas-named-chair-department-dental-hygiene","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-health-human-services\/news\/heather-thomas-named-chair-department-dental-hygiene\/","title":{"rendered":"Heather Thomas named chair of NAU\u2019s Department of Dental Hygiene"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignleft size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-health-human-services\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Heather-Thomas-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8147\" width=\"230\" height=\"230\" srcset=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/316\/2024\/06\/Heather-Thomas-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/316\/2024\/06\/Heather-Thomas-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/316\/2024\/06\/Heather-Thomas-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/316\/2024\/06\/Heather-Thomas-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/316\/2024\/06\/Heather-Thomas-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/316\/2024\/06\/Heather-Thomas-2048x2048.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/316\/2024\/06\/Heather-Thomas-400x400.jpg 400w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/316\/2024\/06\/Heather-Thomas-600x600.jpg 600w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/316\/2024\/06\/Heather-Thomas-1000x1000.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 230px) 100vw, 230px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Northern Arizona University\u2019s College of Health and Human Services has named Dr. Heather Thomas as chair of the Department of Dental Hygiene. Dr. Thomas has been an instructor with the department since 2012, serving first as a clinical instructor, then as an assistant clinical professor, associate clinical professor, and now as the department\u2019s leader. Dr. Thomas holds a BS in Dental Hygiene, an MA in Educational Leadership, and a PhD in Interdisciplinary Health.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In addition to her extensive teaching experience, Dr. Thomas\u2019 research focuses on combating oral health inequities among American Indian and Alaska Native populations. She recently served on a team of researchers and faculty that wrote a children\u2019s book entitled, <em>Welcome, Baby, Smile! w<\/em>hich aims to provide a sustainable, meaningful, and relevant resource for parents and children to learn about early childhood dental care.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI am a Lumberjack myself, three times over, and now am honored to oversee this department that I care so much for. As Arizona faces healthcare worker shortages, some of the worst in the nation, I am focused on ensuring our department helps to meet those shortages, training Arizona students to stay and work in Arizona communities.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>NAU\u2019s Department of Dental Hygiene has earned a nationwide reputation for educating dental hygiene professionals since its inception in 1973 and is the only program in Arizona that awards a Bachelor of Science in Dental Hygiene upon completion of the program.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Visit <a href=\"https:\/\/legacy.nau.edu\/dental-hygiene\/\">NAU&#8217;s Department of Dental Hygiene<\/a> to learn more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Northern Arizona University\u2019s College of Health and Human Services has named Dr. Heather Thomas as chair of the Department of Dental Hygiene. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":769,"featured_media":7923,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"2normal","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,8],"tags":[63,73],"class_list":["post-8146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-college-of-health-and-human-services","category-dental-hygiene","tag-dental-hygiene","tag-dh"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-health-human-services\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-health-human-services\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-health-human-services\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-health-human-services\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/769"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-health-human-services\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8146"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-health-human-services\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8146\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10794,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-health-human-services\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8146\/revisions\/10794"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-health-human-services\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-health-human-services\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-health-human-services\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-health-human-services\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}