Introducing the 2022 Distinguished Alumni Awardees
The School of Dentistry is pleased to announce that Gary C. Anderson, DDS ’80, MS ’83, and Katrina Sanders, RDH, BSDH ’07, MEd, RF, are the recipients of the 2022 Distinguished Dental and Dental Hygiene Alumni Awards.
The Distinguished Dental and Dental Hygiene Alumni Awards are honors given annually to outstanding alumni in recognition of exceptional achievement. Candidates must be a graduate of any program of the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry and are judged based on their participation, service, and leadership in the advancement of dentistry and oral health, their public service, community service, and/or civic affairs, and their dedication to continuing education.
Gary Anderson, DDS ’80, MS ’83, is a professor at the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry in the Department of Developmental Surgical Sciences. For 40 years, Anderson has held positions at the School of Dentistry including Dean, Interim Dean, Senior Associate Dean, Chair of Developmental and Surgical Sciences, Program Director of the Cleft Palate/Craniofacial Anomalies Program, Co-Director of the TMD and Orofacial Pain Clinic, interim department chair, and more. Anderson also began practicing clinically with HealthPartners in 1984, where he treated patients until 2020. He has directed, co-directed or lectured in many TMD & orofacial pain, occlusion, craniofacial and prosthodontic courses at the pre-doctoral, graduate, and post-graduate levels, and has mentored or served as a thesis advisor for multiple students, both pre- and graduate level. His research has resulted in more than 40 publications and 35 abstracts, along with more than ten grants, all focused on TMD and orofacial pain.
Anderson has served as a reviewer for multiple dental journals, including the Journal of Dental Education, the Journal of the American Dental Association, the Journal of Dental Research, the Cochrane Collaboration and the Journal of Orofacial Pain. He has directed, co-directed or lectured in many TMD & orofacial pain, occlusion, craniofacial and prosthodontic courses at the pre-doctoral, graduate, and post-graduate levels, and has mentored or served as a thesis advisor for multiple students at both the re-doctoral and graduate level.
“Dr. Gary Anderson has been a leader in the dental school since the completion of his specialty training in prosthodontics in 1983,” said Arnold J. Hill, DDS, MSD, and Stephen F. Litton, DDS, PhD, previous Distinguished Dental Alumnus Awardees in their nomination letter. “In his 40 years as an educator, administrator and researcher, he has held what seems to be almost every leadership position in the school. He has been an advisor, teacher and mentor to countless students, he has conducted research to help advance dentistry in Minnesota that has had a profound effect on dentistry around this country and the world, and he has been involved in organized dentistry in Minnesota and nationally. He is truly a ‘jack of all trades’ when it comes to dentistry.”
Katrina Sanders, RDH, BSDH ’07, MEd, RF, is a speaker, instructor, clinician and researcher. In addition to her clinical work at AZ Perio, Sanders served as a clinic coordinator, curriculum developer and didactic instructor in the dental hygiene and continuing education programs at Fortis College in Arizona from 2013-2017. Sanders is the CEO and keynote speaker at Sanders Board Preparatory, where she effectively prepares hygienists to take their clinical examinations. She is an international speaker on local anesthesia, infectious diseases and periodontics, with more than 300 speaking engagements since 2020. She hosts podcasts and is an advisor on several boards, including Women in Dentistry, Dental Speaker Bureau and Endeavor Publications. She serves as a corporate consultant to organizations such as Dentsply Sirona, Proctor & Gamble, and Hu-Friedy Group.
Sanders’s accolades include the 2023 Denobi Award, 2021 and 2022 Oral Health and Dentistry Award for Best Clinical Dental Hygienist in the Southwest USA, the 2022 CorporateLiveWire Innovation and Excellence Award for Dental Hygienist of the Year and the 2018 Dentistry’s Got Talent People’s Choice Winner. Most notably, Sanders has delivered dental humanitarian work in underserved communities and fundraised the Bob & Linda Sanders Memorial Library in Rwanda, Africa in loving honor and memory of her parents.
“Katrina is one of the strongest advocates for dental health in the country. She has a strong voice and uses it to educate dental hygienists throughout the country and beyond,” said Carol Dahlke, BSDH ’07, MSDH ’10, dental practice management business and clinical consultant in her nomination of Sanders. “Katrina is an innovative, passionate and driven dental hygiene educator and influencer. She is blazing her own trail, and the world is listening.”
Anderson and Sanders will be honored at the School of Dentistry’s Alumni Weekend in September 2023.