The organization also welcomed new and returning NYSDA officers.  

Albany, NY—The New York State Dental Association (NYSDA) has sworn in Prabha Krishnan, Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) , effective June 1 as the 144^th president of the organization.

Dr. Krishnan works full-time at her private practice in Forest Hills, which she developed from the ground up, focusing on periodontics and implant surgery. She is also an attending and chief of periodontics at Flushing Hospital Medical Center and serves as a member of the Indian Dental Association Board of Trustees.  

“I am honored to lead this incredible organization, which has always placed an emphasis on uplifting and listening to its members,” said Dr. Krishnan. “I am dedicated to moving the dental profession forward and am humbled by our members’ trust in me. I look forward to advancing our priorities and improving the oral health of all New Yorkers.”

In her career, Dr. Krishnan has held leadership positions at the local, state and national levels of organized dentistry. In 2009, while serving as president of the Queens County Dental Society, she won the ADA Golden Apple Award for spearheading the “Women’s Dentists Conference.” This past January, she received the Emil Lentchner Distinguished Service Award, the highest honor bestowed by the Queens County Dental Society. At the national level, Dr. Krishnan has served as a member of the Diversity and Inclusion Committee of the American Dental Association's Board and is the immediate past chair of the ADA Council on Communications.

Dr. Krishnan received her doctorate of dental surgery (DDS) from New York University College of Dentistry in 1991. She continued her postdoctoral training in periodontics at New York University College of Dentistry, which she completed in 1993. 

Serving alongside Dr. Krishnan in the coming year are the following officers, also sworn in in June:

Dr. Maurice Edwards, President-Elect

Maurice Edwards, DMD, runs his private practice and is active in the American Dental Association, American Association of Oral Maxillofacial Surgeons (AAOMS), New York State Association of Oral Maxillofacial Surgeons (NYSSOMS) and the New York Society of Forensic Dentistry. He holds faculty positions in the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at NYU College of Dentistry and the Department of Otolaryngology at Mount Sinai and Mount Sinai West Medical Center’s Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Sections.

The day after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Dr. Edwards spent considerable time alongside thousands of volunteers at Ground Zero searching for the remains of victims. In the months that followed, he worked with the dental identification unit at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of New York City, helping to identify about 60 percent of all remains recovered. He received NYSDA’s New Dentist Leadership Award for his efforts. 

Dr. Edwards received his doctorate of dental medicine from the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine. Upon graduating, Dr. Edwards matched and completed a four-year residency program in oral and maxillofacial surgery at New York University and Bellevue Hospital.   

Dr. Amarillis Jacobo, Vice President

Amarillis Jacobo, DDS, is a general practice dentist with private practices in Harlem and the Bronx. She has served on multiple boards and organizations, including NYSDA, ADA, National Hispanic Dental Association, Hispanic Dental Association-New York Chapter, Bronx County Dental Society and the Dominican Dental Association, which she is a founding member of. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she received a state appointment to the New York Forward Re-Opening Advisory Board.

In 2017, she opened la clinca Astin Jacobo, a free dental clinic in the Dominican Republic named after her father. Housed at the Astin Jacobo Middle School, the clinic is dedicated to ensuring the oral health of all on campus. She established the Dr. Amarilis Jacobo Scholarship Award in 2016 for students at the Bronx School for Law Government and Justice.

Dr. Jacobo attended La Universidad Central del Este School of Dentistry in the Dominican Republic. Following graduation, she returned to the United States and received her Doctor of Dental Surgery from New York University School of Dentistry.

Dr. Paul Leary, Secretary-Treasurer

Paul Leary, DMD, is a graduate of Temple University School of Dentistry. He entered the United States Navy in his freshman year of dental school, completed three years of active-duty service upon graduation and remained in the Naval Reserve for 14 years. He left active service and entered private practice, where he continues to work 34 years later.  He shares ownership of his practice with Dr. Matthew Hanna and recently welcomed his daughter, Dr. Megan Leary, to the practice.

Dr. Leary has held many leadership positions in his home base of Suffolk County, as well as within NYSDA and the ADA.  Most notably, he is the immediate-past trustee representing the Second ADA District, NYSDA Trustee representing Suffolk County and a past member of NYSDA’s Board of Governors. He remains dedicated to educating the next generation of dentists and has presented an ethics course to fourth-year dental students at Stony Brook School of Dental Medicine for the past 13 years.

Dr. William Karp, Speaker of the House of Delegates  

William Karp, DDS, is a general practice dentist and has maintained his private practice in the Syracuse area since 1983. He is also an attending dentist at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Health Center where he helps to educate dental residents. 

Dr. Karp has served in leadership capacities as a delegate to the ADA and as a member of the ADA Council on Communications. At NYSDA, he has served as governor, trustee and a delegate to in the NYSDA House. He previously served as president of the Fifth District Dental Society and has been their parliamentarian since 2009.

Dr. Karp is a graduate of NYU College of Dentistry and completed his general practice residency at the University of Rochester’s Strong Memorial Hospital.  

About the New York State Dental Association:   

The New York State Dental Association, founded in 1868, is one of the largest state constituents of the American Dental Association and represents more than 60 percent of dentists practicing in New York State. Founded in 1859, the American Dental Association is the oldest and largest national dental society in the world and serves as the leading source of oral health-related information for dentists and their patients.   

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