Associate Dean Todd Ester reflects on year of national leadership as chair of the ADEA board

Ann Arbor, Mich., April 22, 2026 – For Dr. Todd V. Ester, a year of leading the American Dental Education Association as chair of its board meant an immersion into the broad array of current challenges and new opportunities for advancing the dental education community across the country and world-wide.

A faculty member for more than 20 years and Associate Dean for Well-being and People at the University of Michigan School of Dentistry, Ester centered his leadership on protecting ADEA’s ability to convene, advocate and serve as the unifying voice for U.S. and Canadian dental education and its growing connections to dental schools around the world.

Chairing the ADEA board is a complicated task in any year, but the slate of issues on the agenda for 2025-26 was particularly important to U.S. and Canadian dental schools: Funding pressures to research and to graduate student loans; visa and travel constraints; pressure to eliminate fluoride in public water systems; and intensifying scrutiny of higher education.
 

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For ADEA’s annual session in late March that closed out Ester’s year as chair, he chose the theme, “Bridging Pathways and Advancing Access,” underscoring the importance of community and fellowship. Ester set the tone at the conference in Montreal, Quebec, with his opening remarks that included, “Cue the joy!” The session emphasized the importance of community, creativity, collaboration and indomitable hope.

A major measure of Ester’s influence was ADEA’s advocacy. Whereas a typical year would generate five or six resolutions, Ester helped advance more than 14 that were adopted by the organization. At the same time, he worked to support member schools facing complex state and regulatory constraints, including restrictions that limited oral health delivery and licensure details that required alternative approaches, among others. An ongoing goal is to maintain cohesion across institutions while supporting ADEA as the voice oral health education for all.

As chair of the board, Ester also focused on ADEA’s strategic capacity for member support. He emphasized the association’s role in helping 78 U.S. and Canadian dental schools share best practices across admissions, accreditation, licensure, governance and professional development. A key step was the rollout of a new data portal designed to provide richer datasets for member institutions, enabling more data-driven planning and decision-making.

Beyond the U.S. and Canada, Ester helped extend ADEA’s global reach by participating in the founding of the African Dental Education Association. Convening in Casablanca, Morocco, the inaugural meeting of 40 of 81 African dental schools established a new organization to define standards and support for academic dentistry in Africa.  Along with European and international partners, Ester and ADEA leadership helped underscore a continuing need: deeper collaboration among dental organizations to amplify shared priorities and resources, a direction he believes will shape ADEA’s next chapter.

“Being part of the formation of this new organization in Africa was truly a life-changing event for me,” said Ester. “It was a moment for me to reflect and know that I was exactly where I was supposed to be to help advocate and build bridges to improve oral health on an even broader level.”

Another achievement during the year for ADEA was educational standards modernization. After more than two years of committee work, the board of directors and House of Delegates approved updated domains of competence for the general dentist. The working committee was led by Dr. Theodora Danciu, a clinical professor in the U-M dental school’s Department of Periodontics and Oral Medicine, and included Vidya Ramaswamy, the school’s Director of Curriculum Evaluation. The committee developed the first revision since 2008, aligning expectations with contemporary practice and the Entrustable Professional Activities framework.

Ester’s role as chair brought together high-impact advocacy, competency modernization with expanded global engagement and improved data infrastructure, while navigating societal and logistical challenges to keep dental education unified and forward-looking.  He will continue his leadership with ADEA in the next year as past chair of the board.
 
“When I consider the importance of ADEA, my time as chair has confirmed that it is essential for our profession, especially in defining what oral health will look like in the future,” Ester said. “I’m also grateful for the impact that our school’s leadership, including former Dean and now U-M Provost Laurie McCauley and Dean Jacques Nör, have had in not only supporting ADEA but also making meaningful contributions to its growth and sustainability. For that, I’m grateful and pleased to have completed my term as chair.”
 

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The University of Michigan School of Dentistry is one of the nation’s leading dental schools engaged in oral healthcare education, research, patient care and community service.  General dental care clinics and specialty clinics providing advanced treatment enable the school to offer dental services and programs to patients throughout Michigan.  Classroom and clinic instruction prepare future dentists, dental specialists and dental hygienists for practice in private offices, hospitals, academia and public agencies.  Research seeks to discover and apply new knowledge that can help patients worldwide.  For more information about the School of Dentistry, visit us on the Web at: www.dent.umich.edu.  Email: [email protected], or (734) 615-1971.