The Florida State Senate recently confirmed Governor Charlie Crist’s appointment of Teresa A. Dolan, D.D.S., M.H.A., professor and dean of the University of Florida College of Dentistry, to the State of Florida Correctional Medical Authority (CMA).
Dolan earned her doctorate in dental surgery from the University of Texas and a master’s degree in public health from the University of California at Los Angeles. She continued her education by earning certificates in general dentistry at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, in geriatric dentistry at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Sepulveda, Calif., and in dental public health at UF. Dolan joined the faculty of the University of Florida in 1989 as the director of geriatric dentistry and was appointed dean of the college in 2003. Her two-term on the CMA begins July 2010.
The CMA was created by the Florida legislature in 1986 in response to several key events including federal lawsuits filed by state prison inmates alleging inadequate medical care, overcrowding and other complaints.
The CMA, a state agency and part of the executive branch of Florida government, is composed of a nine-member volunteer board, monitors and evaluates the quality of the physical and mental health care services provided to inmates in Floridas state and privately-operated correctional institutions. Evaluations are conducted to ensure the physical, dental and mental health services provided by the Department of Corrections meet minimum standards of care as defined by state and federal law and are consistent with generally-accepted community standards.