Jeannette Díaz-Olivera, DHSc, MPH, MSDH, RDH, RDHAP, FADHA

Jeannette Díaz-Olivera, DHSc, MPH, MSDH, RDH, RDHAP, FADHA, is a trusted leader, alternative practice clinician, and dental hygiene educator with nearly 20 years of experience across private and public sectors. She integrates clinical practice, higher education, and community-based care to advance dental hygiene education, foster collaboration, and improve access, particularly for older adults and individuals with disabilities. Actively involved in dental hygiene associations at all levels, Díaz-Olivera shares her expertise as a speaker on advocacy and public health. Her presentations cover grief literacy, compassion fatigue, adverse childhood experiences, and sensory-informed care for individuals with disabilities. Her research focuses on men in the dental hygiene profession, with broader interests in qualitative research, grief studies, and health equity. Díaz-Olivera advocates for self-regulation of dental hygiene in all 50 states to expand professional autonomy and access to care. She has built a career centered on compassion, inclusion, and service, shaping her teaching, mentoring, and patient care. Díaz-Olivera is a member of the Alpha Eta Allied Health Honor Society and an inaugural Fellow of the American Dental Hygienists’ Association. She currently teaches full-time at a Cerritos College in Norwalk, California, and serves as an adjunct faculty member at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in its graduate-level dental hygiene program.