Marcy Bowers is the executive director of the Statewide Poverty Action Network, a Seattle-based, statewide organization dedicated to building grassroots power to end causes of poverty and creating opportunities for everyone to prosper. Poverty Action achieves this mission by advocating and organizing for innovative public policies, registering and mobilizing voters, and building and supporting grassroots leaders in low-income communities and communities of color across Washington. Ms. Bowers began as a volunteer with Poverty Action in 2001, came on staff in 2005, and became the executive director in 2011 after having played virtually every role in the organization. She serves on the board of the Washington Asset Building Coalition and is a member of the Solid Ground Strategic Leadership Team. She has deep organizing and policy experience, having worked for social justice in Seattle, Texas, and Central America. Outside work, she enjoys being a Seattle stereotype with her love of hiking, running, biking, and coffee. She enjoys exploring the region with her amazing partner and child. Ms. Bowers holds a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Women’s Studies from the University of Washington. Ms. Bowers̵ oral health super-power is her deeply held belief in the power of grassroots organizing and community leadership. She also believes strongly in the power of flossing!
Dr. Maier is a family physician in Yakima who has spent a career integrating oral health into overall health. First as a co-leader of a community fluoridation campaign, then as co-founder of Smiles for Life, the national curriculum on oral health for all health professionals. He served as the first physician chair of an oral health foundation at WDSF, the forerunner of Arcora Foundation in Washington State. He currently is a clinical professor in Family Medicine at Pacific Northwest University and the University of Washington School of Medicine and works as Associate Dean for Graduate Medical Education at Pacific Northwest University. He is married to another family physician, has three grown children and two dogs, all of whom he spends time with in the outdoors.
Dr.Sarah Vander Beek, DMD, is the Chief Dental Officer at Neighborcare Health in Seattle, WA. She joined Neighborcare Health in 2010 after completing a General Practice Residency at the University of Washington.Dr, Vander Beek graduated from the Arizona School of Dentistry and Oral Health in 2009. She has been involved in Quality Improvement initiatives with DentaQuest (Early Childhood Caries, Elimination of Dental Disease) and has also completed the Institute for HealthcareNational Network for Oral Health Access (NNOHA) and serves on the Seattle King County Dental Society Access Committee. She loves the dental team at Neighborcare Health and feels honored to serve the Neighborcare staff and patients. Dr. Vander Beek is passionate about social justice, equity, the concept of the healthcare home, and contributing to the evolving discussion of quality metrics in the field of dentistry. When she is not thinking about oral health, she can be found playing trucks with her son, Robbie or adventuring in the outdoors skiing, hiking, or mountain biking. Dr. Vander Beek’s oral health superpower is trying to make patient’s loads lighter. She thinks of it like taking a rock out of someone’s backpack- for some patients, it might be a tiny pebble; for others, it is a boulder- regardless, it is lighter! ItShe is passionate about social justice, equity, the concept of the healthcare home and contributing to the evolving discussion of quality metrics in the field of dentistry. When she is not thinking about oral health, she can be found playing trucks with her son, Robbie or adventuring in the outdoors skiing, hiking, or mountain biking.Dr. Vander Beek. oral health superpower is trying to make patient’s loads lighter. She thinks of it like taking a rock out of someone’s backpack- for some patients, it might be a tiny pebble; for others,it’s a boulder - regardless, the load is lighter! It’s an approach that helps Dr. Vander Beek keep the humanity of her patients centered, acknowledging the heavy burdens (and barriers) they often endure.
Lauren Spilles, RDH, is a dental hygienist in a rural Eastern Washington community health center delivering care to underserved populations. In addition, she holds a position in public health that focuses on a variety of outreach efforts. Ms. Spilles’ work includes medical-dental integration projects, school oral health programs, and addressing access to care issues. Ms. Spilles holds a bachelor’s degree in Spanish Language/ Global Culture from Eastern Oregon University. In addition, she graduated from Columbia Basin College Dental Hygiene Program in 2012. Lauren Spilles’s oral health superpower: After day of saving teeth in the community, she manages to come home and keep her three kids’ teeth in tip top shape.
Heidi Desmarais, RDH, holds a master's degree from Eastern Washington University in dental hygiene with a focus on dental hygiene education and dental public health. In addition, between 1995 – 2018, she earned an associate degree in dental hygiene from Shoreline College and a bachelor's degree in dental hygiene from the University of Washington. Ms. Desmarais currently practices in both private clinical and alternative dental hygiene settings. In addition, she serves her greater community in supportive oral health roles in schools, screenings, and local water fluoridation efforts. Ms. Desmarais has served as an assistant professor of dental hygiene, a continuing education presenter for dental professionals, and an oral health representative on oral health boards and numerous community health committeese. She served as co-chair of the Greater Columbia Accountable Community of Health. She is a current board member of the Alliance of Dental Hygiene Practitioners (ADHP), a collaborative of direct access dental hygienists serving in alternative practice settings in Washington. Heidi Desmarais’ oral health superpower: Years of preventive health education has added a unique preventive perspective to my worldview. Applying a preventive lens often reveals ways to help prevent unnecessary disease, expense, and community hardship. I honestly feel a remarkable, unstoppable energy when it comes to realizing preventive, integrated medical-dental health efforts to strengthen our existing safety net of solutions for prevention, access, and workforce utilization.
Shelley Guinn, MPH, RDH, holds a master’s degree in public health with a dental emphasis and a concentration in leadership and management coaching from A.T. Still University’s School of Health Management, a bachelor of science in dental hygiene from Eastern Washington University, and an associate of arts and sciences in dental hygiene from Clark College. Ms. Guinn serves as the Oral Health Program lead for the Washington State Department of Health where she is recognized as a statewide subject matter expert in dental public health programs, policy, and advocacy. She represents the Washington State Department of Health nationally as a member of the Association of State and Territorial Dental Directors (ASTDD) and participates on the ASTDD’s Dental Public Health Policy Committee. Ms. Guinn previously served broadly at the community level in the field of dental public health, specializing in program development, implementation, and management, following 17 years of clinical dental hygiene practice.
Dr. Chris Delecki, the son of an auto factory worker, was born and raised in Flint, Michigan. He graduated from the University of Michigan, School of Dentistry, in 1977 and received a Master’s Degree in Public Health from Michigan in 1992. Dr. Delecki worked on several Indian reservations throughout the Western United States during his 22-year US Public Health Service career. In 1998 he accepted the position of Dental Director at Seattle Children’s Odessa Brown Children’s Clinic (OBCC). He retired from that role in May 2016 but occasionally practices at the clinic when help is needed. He maintains a position as an Affiliate Associate Professor in the Pediatric Dental Department at the University of Washington, School of Dentistry. As a life-time member of organized dentistry, Dr. Delecki has been a leading advocate among his peers for improving access to care for low-income families and diverse ethnic groups. He has demonstrated leadership in this area through 35 years of involvement with Head Start children and families. Dr. Delecki is equally passionate about dental workforce issues and the need to improve the living wage for dental assistants. For the past nine years, he has served as a member of the King County Health Board, where he promotes equity health care for all the residents of King County. Dr. Delecki has been very involved in organized dentistry for the past 20 years and has held several leadership positions. Currently, he is a delegate to the American Dental Association’s (ADA) House of Delegates, a member of the ADA’s Council on Advocacy for Access and Prevention (CAAP), and the CAAP representative on the National Fluoridation Advisory Committee. While retired from active dental practice, Dr. Delecki provides volunteer dental care for homeless and senior populations as well as children visiting the ARCORA Foundation’s SmileMobile. He enjoys traveling (pre-COVID) with Bonnie, his wife of 46 years, and spending time with their five grandchildren.
Stacy Torrance is a senior program officer at the Arcora Foundation. Her passion for health promotion and prevention led her to the foundation in 2011 and to WSOHC in 2021. Ms. Torrance works on a variety of issues, including community water fluoridation, school oral health programs, early access to dental care, and health communications. Prior to joining the foundation, Ms. Torrance earned her master’s degree in public health from Tufts University in Boston, MA. In addition, she served as an HIV educator with the Peace Corps in Botswana. Ms. Torrance is a native Seattleite who enjoys spending time with her family and friends in the Northwest … rain or shine.