Steffany Chamut, DDS, MPH

Dr. Steffany Chamut is a dentist with advanced training in geriatric dentistry, prosthodontics, public health, and health policy. Dr. Chamut is an full-time Associate Professor at Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences School of Dental Medicine, and Affiliate Faculty at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in the Departments of Environmental Health and Epidemiology. Her work and research focuses on the use of quality improvement and oral health integration, healthy aging and geriatrics, nutrition, and Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (AD/ADRD), with a particular emphasis on reducing inequities for rural, Hispanic, and other underserved populations in the U.S. and globally. She currently serves as Principal Investigator (PI) for the Health Equity Scholars Program project “Exploring Neurological and Indirect Biomarkers for Potential Correlations with Oral Health: An Interdisciplinary Approach” within the NIH/NIA Health and Aging Brain Study–Health Disparities (HABS-HD-Scholar) and as Multiple PI for the NIH/NIDCR R21 “Oral diseases and quality of life in older adults on anti-retroviral therapy in Uganda (ODQoL-UG).”

Dr. Chamut previously served as an Associate Professor (Clinical Track) in the Department of Community Dentistry and Population Health, School of Dental Medicine, at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. In this role, she co-directed Community Public Health 1 & 2, Gerontology & Geriatric Health Care, and Advanced Clinical Geriatric Dentistry, leading geriatric dentistry education and developing and supervising clinical and community-based training programs for older adults and individuals with special health care needs. She also taught nutrition-focused coursework, integrating interprofessional education and collaborative practice into the predoctoral curriculum.

Also, Dr. Chamut served for over six years as a full-time faculty at Harvard School of Dental Medicine (HSDM), in the Department of Oral Health Policy and Epidemiology and the Office of Global and Community Health, where she directed advanced graduate and pre-and post-doctoral courses, led curricular innovation in dental public health (DPH) and geriatric dentistry, and co-led over $3M HRSA-funded initiatives, including the National Center for Equitable Care for Elders (NCECE) and the grant “Catalyzing Oral Health Workforce for Rural and Vulnerable Populations,” which established the nation’s first Dental Public Health residency with a dedicated rural track and an AEGD program. She was also a PI of the Oral Health Alliance grant “Every Bite Counts to Achieve Oral Health,” that addressed diet and oral health preventive practices.

As a 2021–2022 Health and Aging Policy Fellow in the American Political Science Association Congressional Program, Dr. Chamut was placed at the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Office of the Administrator, where she served as Senior Dental Fellow. In this role, she supported the development, implementation, and progress tracking of the CMS Oral Health Vision and contributed to policy analyses and cross-agency workstreams focused on oral health in nursing homes, malnutrition prevention, and oral health integration for Medicare and dually eligible beneficiaries.

Dr. Chamut’s teaching and mentorship expertise extends beyond Harvard as a core faculty member of the Human Resources for Health (HRH) program at the University of Rwanda’s School of Dentistry, which hosts the country’s first Bachelors of Dental Surgery program (first Bachelors of Dental Surgery program in the country), and serves as a visiting lecturer at the University of the West Indies, Mona School of Dentistry, in Kingston, Jamaica.

Dr. Chamut completed the GeriCare Everywhere training program at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, which prepares clinicians to deliver multidisciplinary, team-based care for medically complex, frail, and vulnerable older adults. Before her tenure in academia, Dr. Chamut completed her post-graduate training in restorative prosthetics and dental public health at the U.S. University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, A.T. Still University, and the National Institutes of Health (NIH)/National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR). She also completed fellowships at the Pan-American/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) and HRSA, enriching her experience across private, public, academic, and federal settings. Dr. Chamut has been recognized for her outstanding contributions to medical-dental filed, research, and policy development. She was selected as 2021-2022 Health and Aging Policy Fellow (HAPF) in the American Political Science Association (APSA) Congressional Program. As a HAPF, she worked with the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), assisting in the development and implementation of oral health policies for nursing homes. Her innovative spirit was further recognized when she became a finalist in the 2022 NIH/National Institute on Aging (NIA) Startup Challenge and Accelerator Program, where her Next S-Miles solution stood out among over 200 submissions, highlighting its potential to advance care for vulnerable populations, such as older adults, individuals with Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD), Special Healthcare Needs (SHCN), and stroke survivors, who frequently encounter obstacles in identifying oral health problems due to communication challenges. She is a 2022 NIH/NIA Butler-Williams Scholars Program and participated in the 2023 Boston University Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center Research Education Component (BU-REC), funded by NIH/NIA where her work “Bridging Oral Health and Alzheimer’s Risk: The ‘Mouth to Mind’ Project,” linked oral health with cognitive health.

Dr. Chamut is committed to working on policies that support oral health equity and disease preventive measures as critical elements to aid older adults achieve optimal oral and overall health.