Katherine Weno, DDS, JD, a dentist and lawyer who heads the bureau of oral health at the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE), has been selected as the new director of the division of oral health at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta.

Dr. Weno joined the KDHE as bureau director in 2006, according to the Kansas Health Institute.

Dr. Weno attended the University of Iowa, where she received her dental degree in 1991 and her law degree in 1999. Dr. Weno was in private dental practice from 1991 to 2000 and began her legal career working for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in Missouri in 2001.

She has been a member of the Association of State and Territorial Dental Directors’ board of directors for two years and currently serves as the group’s treasurer.

At the CDC, Dr. Weno will replace William Bailey, DDS, MPH, who has been acting director of the division for two years while also serving as chief dental officer for the U.S. Public Health Service.

The CDC’s oral health division, which has an annual budget of about $14.4 million, works with states to promote oral health and maintains the national fluoridation reporting system.

Dr. Weno is scheduled to take the new post on October 6.

Print PDF