12 November 2026

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Maynard K. Hine Scholarship and Daniel M. Laskin Professional Ethics Lectures

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Each year, the Indiana Section of the American College of Dentists teams up with Indiana University School of Dentistry's Daniel Laskin Professional Ethics Lectureship Series to bring you the latest in Dentistry and Ethics.

Community impact

Dr. Robert A. F ai ella is a nationally recognized leader in organized dentistry, health care innovation, and organizational transformation. He is the President of the American College of Dentists Foundation and a Past President of the American Dental Association. He currently serves as Director and Past President of the American Board of Periodontology, Chair of the Harvard School of Dental Medicine Board of Fellows , and an appointed mem ber of the MIT Sloan School of Management Alumni Board.

Dr. Faiella is the Chief Dental Officer and Co-Founder of LightSpun, Inc. (formerly 32Health, Inc.), as well as a former Chief Dental Officer and Advisor for Overjet, Inc. He maintains a private practice specializing in Periodontics and Dental Implant Surgery in Osterville and Duxbury, Massachusetts.

Dr. Faiella completed his graduate training in Periodontology as an NIH Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine and earned a Master of Medical Science (M.M.Sc.) degree from Harvard Medical School. He has been recognized with the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Harvard School of Dental Medicine. Additionally, he holds a Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Sloan School of Management.

Why it matters

As a leader in dental informatics, Dr. Faiella serves as Chair of the ADA Standards Consensus Body 12.7 on Artificial and Augmented Intelligence, leading the development of Standards, Technical Reports and White Papers under ANSI domestically, and as the U.S. Lead Designated Expert for ISO TC 106/13 on Artificial Intelligence in Dentistry for Standards internationally.

Dr. Faiella has held key leadership roles, including serving as Chairman and President of ADA Business Enterprises, Inc., the for-profit subsidiary of the American Dental Association.

Nanette Elster, JD, MPH, is a professor at the Neiswanger Institute for Bioethics and Health Policy, Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine. She is an active educator in the graduate program, teaching a variety of courses in areas related to law, pediatrics, oral health, genetics, and professionalism. She also supervises the graduate program’s writing courses, master's capstone course, and doctoral capstone courses.

She has extensive experience in legal, public health and ethical issues related to women’s and children’s health, oral health, genetics and neurodiversity. She has spoken nationally and internationally and is the author of numerous articles on the legal, health policy and ethical implications of a range of public health issues, genetics issues, oral health issues and reproductive issues. She has appeared on such media staples as CNN, Good Morning America, the Today Show, NPR and Chicago Tonight. More recently, she has been quoted in Forbes , Insider , and The Cut . She has authored many blogs, peer-reviewed articles and book chapters.

Academic context

She served for many years as the chair of the Special Committee on Bioethics and the Law for the American Bar Association, served as the editor of the Journal of the American College of Dentists and was the Manager of Ethics Outreach for the Council on Ethics, Bylaws and Judicial Affairs of the American Dental Association. She is the legal consultant to the Committee on Bioethics for the American Academy of Pediatrics. She also serves on the board of the Alliance for Fertility Preservation. She served on the executive board of the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics (APPE) and was elected to serve as board member of the Academy for Professionalism in Health Care (APHC) . She is currently a member of the institutional ethics committee of Endeavor Health System and the Ethics Advisory Board of Lurie Children’s Hospital. She is also an honorary fellow of the American College of Dentists.

Source: https://dentistry.iu.edu/ce-professional-services/continuing-education/hine-laskin1.html