UAMS Names Efurd Chair of Department of Dental Hygiene

By Ben Boulden

| LITTLE ROCK – Melissa Efurd, Ed.D., M.S., an experienced dental hygiene program director, has been chosen to lead the program in the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) College of Health Professions.

Efurd has been named chair of the Department of Dental Hygiene and program director for the college’s degree programs in dental hygiene. Since 2009, she has served as dental hygiene program director at the University of Arkansas Fort Smith. Her experience includes more than 20 years working as a hygienist at dental clinics in Arkansas and Louisiana.

A graduate of the UAMS Dental Hygiene program in 1979, she holds a master’s degree in dental hygiene education from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and a doctorate degree in education from the University of Arkansas. Efurd succeeds Susan Long, Ed.D., who was named the college’s associate dean for academic affairs in 2012.

She is a member of the American Dental Educators Association, the American Dental Hygienist Association and the Arkansas Dental Hygienist Association.

UAMS is the state’s only health sciences university, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; a hospital; a main campus in Little Rock; a Northwest Arkansas regional campus in Fayetteville; a statewide network of regional campuses; and eight institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, Psychiatric Research Institute, Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging, Translational Research Institute, Institute for Digital Health & Innovation and the Institute for Community Health Innovation. UAMS includes UAMS Health, a statewide health system that encompasses all of UAMS’ clinical enterprise. UAMS is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has 3,275 students, 890 medical residents and fellows, and five dental residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 12,000 employees, including 1,200 physicians who provide care to patients at UAMS, its regional campuses, Arkansas Children’s, the VA Medical Center and Baptist Health. Visit www.uams.edu or uamshealth.com. Find us on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube or Instagram.

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