Dr. Elsbeth Kalenderian named to Community Smiles Dental Board of Directors

Dr. Elsbeth Kalenderian, professor and dean of Marquette University School of Dentistry, has been named to the board of directors for Community Smiles Dental, a nonprofit organization with clinics serving low-income children and special needs adults in Southeastern Wisconsin.

Opened in 2008 as Waukesha County Community Dental Clinic, Community Smiles Dental now serves nearly 5,000 patients annually at its Waukesha and Menomonee Falls clinics. In 2025, Marquette established a partnership with CSD as an external rotation site for dental students. CSD plans to open its first Milwaukee clinic at The Beacon, a new health and wellness hub under construction at 27th Street and Wisconsin Avenue, a few blocks north of Marquette's campus.

Community Smiles' board directors serve as advisers to help advance the organization's mission of providing quality dental healthcare, preventive education and advocating for underserved children and families.

"It is an honor to serve on the board of Community Smiles Dental, whose mission and values so closely align with those of Marquette's School of Dentistry," Kalenderian said. "Nearly 100,000 children in the Greater Milwaukee area have difficulty accessing oral healthcare, and my hope is that our school's partnership with CSD helps address the disparities. I am eager for the new clinic to open at The Beacon - just blocks away from our school - to increase access to care for this underserved population and provide new educational opportunities for our students."

Kalenderian began as dean of Marquette's dental school in August 2023. In that time, she has led efforts to launch and expand programs, streamline patient access, given keynote addresses and served on national panels. Her well-established research portfolio is continuously supported by numerous grants from the National Institutes of Health and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; her work uses informatics approaches with a focus on patient safety, quality metrics and quality improvement in the dental setting.