Page 28 - Dentistry Magazine 2022

28 DENTISTRY 2022
Announcing the 2022 Distinguished Alumni Awardees
The Distinguished Dental and Dental Hygiene Alumni Awards are honors given annually to outstanding alumni in recognition of exceptional achievement. Candidates must be a graduate of any program of the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry and are judged based on their participation, service, and leadership in the advancement of dentistry and oral health, their public service, community service, and/or civic affairs, and their dedication to continuing education.
Dean Keith Mays and Shivan Nelson, DDS ’11, with awardees. From L-R: Mays, Judy Danielson, Deborah Lien, Angela Rake, John Kanyusik, Lesley Tuomi, Nelson.
Deborah Lien
Deborah Lien, DDS ’83, MS, is the owner of Lien Orthodontics in Blooming Prairie, MN. After graduating summa cum laude with high distinction with her Doctor of Dental Surgery in 1983, she attended the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine to pursue her Masters of Science in Orthodontics. She practiced in Rochester, Owatonna and most recently opened her practice in Blooming Prairie, MN in 2000. Lien also does locum tenens for her colleagues needing medical, disability or maternity leave. A fierce advocate for rural communities like the ones in which she grew up, Lien has made whole-body wellness for patients in outstate and rural Minnesota a priority.
Lien received the American Association of Periodontists Award for Outstanding Academic Achievement and the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Award for Outstanding Achievements in Undergraduate Study and Clinical Training during her time at the School of Dentistry. After her graduation, she was inducted into Omicron Kappa Upsilon, and was recently inducted into the American College of Dentists. Lien received the Roger Fredsall Distinguished Service Award for Outstanding
Service from the Minnesota Association of Orthodon- tists in 2013 and the Midwestern Society of Orthodontics Earl E. Shepard Distinguished Service Award in 2021.
She is an active member of the Minnesota Association
of Orthodontics, the Midwest Society of Orthodontics and the American Association of Orthodontics and is a 2022 inductee to the International College of Dentists.
“When you get Deb to volunteer for your organization, you get someone who will contribute for years to come,” said Arnold Hill, DDS, and Stephen Litton, DDS, in their nomination letter. This is evidenced in her work with Smiles Change Lives, the Salvation Army Good Samari- tan Dental Clinic in Rochester, Give Kids a Smile and the Minnesota Mission of Mercy, as well as her involvement in community organizations from sports leagues to service opportunities and even as a Veterans of Foreign Wars Honor Flight Guardian.
Judy Danielson
Judy Danielson, GDH ’77, BSDH ’80, MSDH ’13, is a dental hygiene educator and clinical professor in the Division
of Periodontology at the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry where she has taught since 1999. She has also taught at the University of Colorado and Normandale Community College. Danielson is a member of the Amer- ican Dental Hygienists’ Association, the American Dental