Whitney Haley, R.D.H., BASDH, was one of 20 UF staff and faculty members who received a 2025 University Gold Superior Accomplishment Award on April 3 during a breakfast hosted by UF Interim President Kent Fuchs, Ph.D., UFHR Vice President Melissa Curry, Associate Director of Business Affairs Human Resources Leticia A. Forster and Associate Vice President for Student Life Nancy Chrystal-Green, Ph.D.
Haley, a dental hygienist at the UF St. Petersburg Dental Center, has been a staff member in the Department of Community Dentistry & Behavioral Science for 11 years. She won the award for Individual Employee Performance in the Health Care & Physical Sciences category.
Haley’s work in St. Petersburg is focused on providing oral health care for children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, or IDD, as well as other disabilities. One of the barriers to establishing and maintaining good oral health for persons with IDD is that they often find oral health care settings to be uncomfortable and distressing, making it difficult for them when they need cleanings or more extensive procedures. To help break down this barrier, Haley provides home-based preventive services as well as oral hygiene education and referrals when comprehensive dental care is needed.
“Providing home-based care helps lower anxiety for patients. It can reset their perception of the oral health care process and opens the possibility for patients to have more complex, comprehensive care delivered in a traditional dental setting,” said A. Isabel Garcia, dean of the UF College of Dentistry.
“Over the past decade, our St. Petersburg Dental Center has expanded the care they provide for patients with these and other disabilities and, while its not a one-size-fits-all solution, home care expands the tools in our toolbox to help provide care for some of Florida’s most-vulnerable populations. Whitney has certainly made significant contributions through her efforts in the St. Petersburg community as well as other areas in Florida where we provide care,” Garcia said.
Haley coordinates with dental hygienists at UF’s dental centers in Hialeah and Naples, sharing her expertise and connecting those centers with two UFCD community partners who provide funding for oral health care for patients with special needs including the Special Day Foundation and the Eamon Foundation. She also developed specialized training UF faculty and dental residents at the St. Petersburg Dental Center focused on providing care patients with disabilities.
Last year, Haley participated in a successful grant application to the CareQuest Institute for Oral Health, a foundation that provided one year of funding to launch a pilot test for a UF mobile dental clinic for persons with disabilities in Alachua County.
The 20 UF Gold Superior Accomplishment Award winners represented a wide range of experience and hailed from UF locations throughout Florida were recognized for their outstanding meritorious service, efficiency and/or economy, or to the quality of life for students and employees.
To learn more about all of this year’s award winners, visit the UF website here. To learn more about UF Superior Accomplishment Awards program, visit the UF website here.