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Linda C. Niessen, DMD, MPH, MPP, Kansas City University (KCU) College of Dental Medicine founding dean and vice provost of oral health affairs, embodies the 2024 International Women’s Day theme “Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress.”
From the early days of her career to her current role, Niessen has been an accelerant in multiple lanes of oral health as a clinician and public health thought leader. In 2022, Incisal Edge magazine named her among the 32 Most Influential People in Dentistry.
Often one of the first or very few women at the leadership table, Niessen hit her stride by being the most prepared and with the broadest scope of knowledge in any setting. Frequently sought after for her passion and easy delivery of complex public health and policy issues, Niessen’s passion lies in figuring out how to improve oral health for populations through preventive services or accelerating innovative solutions to access.
Niessen knows the great value of mentorship and thoughtfully cultivated a ‘pit crew of advisors’ each with a different perspective and expertise. Believing many answers can be found within, her frequent question to her own mentors is "Ask me the question I am not asking myself.” That technique is one Niessen cultivated in part because of her mother’s abiding belief and encouragement in her capacity. She believes mentoring is an important part of one’s career and has served as past president of the American Association of Women Dentists, the American Association of Public Health Dentistry, the Santa Fe Group and the Dallas County Dental Society to name a few of the organizations in which she has volunteered.
Her academic studies were not all linear. She explored several majors before landing on chemistry with a French minor and earning membership in Phi Beta Kappa, the nation’s most prestigious academic honor society. As Niessen explains she “pursued dentistry because she didn't know enough about it to scare herself out of it.”
Trailblazing began early in Dr. Niessen's career as a Harvard student. For the first time in history, the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) awarded a dental school scholarship during her last year of dental school. She was one of the first recipients. That scholarship required a multi-year commitment to serve at an NHSC site or a Native American tribal facility. With her Doctor of Dental Medicine degree in hand, Niessen left Harvard and launched her career of service with the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma in Talihina, Oklahoma.
Committed to a culture of kindness, care and compassion, as founding dean, Niessen led KCU’s College of Dental Medicine from vision to reality. KCU partnered with community leaders to build a state-of-the-art facility. Dr. Niessen recruited a top-tier dental faculty to educate future leaders and serve the four-state region.
While clinical skills are essential, Niessen advocates for a strong clinician–community connection. On the first day of school for KCU’s inaugural class of dental students, she invited benefactors and visionaries, Ruby Farber and Larry McIntire, DO, namesakes of KCU-Joplin’s Farber-McIntire Campus, to speak with the students. As she told the students, “Becoming an excellent clinician is necessary but not sufficient. You must also become a community leader, and these are our community leaders. You are here because of them.” The students welcomed the opportunity to thank the individuals who made their dreams of becoming a dentist and going to school in Joplin a reality.
Today, on International Women’s Day, we celebrate Dr. Linda Niessen, a woman who accelerates progress and invests in others.
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