Dushanka V. Kleinman, D.D.S., M.Sc.D
Assistant Director for Roadmap Coordination
Office of the Director

Dr. Dushanka V. Kleinman is the newly-named Assistant Director for Roadmap Coordination in the Office of the Director, NIH; Deputy Director of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) at the National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services; and Chief Dental Officer of the United States Public Health Service. She graduated with a Bachelors in Science from the University of Wisconsin in 1969 and received her Doctor of Dental Surgery from the University of Illinois College of Dentistry in 1973. After dental school Dr. Kleinman completed a Rotating Internship in 1974 at the University of Chicago Hospitals and Clinics and then went on to receive a Masters in the Science of Dentistry in Dental Public Health from the Boston University Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine in 1976.

Dr. Kleinman served as an Assistant Professor for two years at the University of Maryland at Baltimore School of Dentistry before being commissioned in the U.S. Public Health Service in June 1978. Her first assignment was with the Division of Dentistry in the then Department of Health, Education and Welfare's Health Resources Administration as a Dental Surgeon participating in preventive dentistry and expanded duty dental auxiliary activities. In 1980 Dr. Kleinman joined the National Institute of Dental Research as the Evaluation Officer in the Office of the Director. In 1982 her duties expanded to include Institute planning and legislative activities, and she became Chief of the Planning and Evaluation Section. From 1985 to 1990 Dr. Kleinman first managed the Institute's Epidemiology and Oral Disease Prevention Program during a time of transition and then headed the Oral Mucosa, Injuries and Pain Epidemiology Section within that Program. In 1990, Dr. Kleinman was detailed to the Office of the Surgeon General, PHS to serve as the Special Assistant for Special Projects. In this capacity she oversaw an initiative focused on promoting healthy children ready to learn. In 1991 she returned to the Institute as the Deputy Director, a position she currently still holds. From June 1994 to June 1995, Admiral Kleinman also served as the Acting Director of the National Institute of Dental Research.

Dr. Kleinman's awards included the US PHS Distinguished Service Medal for exemplary and innovative leadership in contributing and directing the development of the first-ever Surgeon General's Report on Oral Health; The Director's Exemplary Service Award for the Surgeon General's Report on Oral Health; US PHS Meritorious Service Medal, US PHS Outstanding Service Medal, US PHS Surgeon General's Exemplary Service Medal among others.

Dr. Kleinman is a Diplomate of the American Board of Dental Public Health. She has served in many professional organizations and has been president of the American Association of Women Dentists, the American Board of Dental Public Health, The American Association of Public Health Dentistry, the John W. Knutson Distinguished Service Award in Dental Public Health, and the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States (AMSUS) 2003 Carl A. Schlack Award, among others.

Dr. Kleinman and her husband, Captain Joel Kleinman, have two daughters, Alexa and Jessica.

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