The Charlotte J. Sullivan Award, given by the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine to a dental hygiene alumnus who has made significant contributions to advancing the profession, was recently presented to Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC faculty member Ann Eshenaur Spolarich.

Spolarich was presented with the award at the University of Pennsylvania’s Dental Hygiene Alumni reception celebrating their 90^th year as an organization on June 22, 2013. The event took place during the American Dental Hygienists’ Association Annual Session in Boston celebrating the 100^th anniversary of the dental hygiene profession.

Spolarich is the fifth recipient of this prestigious award. Her name has been added to a commemorative plaque listing all past recipients that is permanently hung in the library at the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine in Philadelphia.

Spolarich is clinical associate professor in the Division of Dental Public Health and Pediatric Dentistry and serves as the Associate Director of the National Center for Dental Hygiene Research & Practice at the Ostrow School of Dentistry. She teaches pharmacology to the undergraduate dental hygiene students, and teaches in the new graduate dental hygiene program.

“I am incredibly honored to receive this award. There is no greater praise than being acknowledged by your peers. It continually amazes me that I am recognized for just doing what I love to do,” Spolarich says.

“I have had terrific mentors throughout the course of my career who have taught me the importance of giving back and I have learned the most from watching them lead by example. I hope that I can impact the careers of my own students in the same positive way that my mentors have influenced mine.”

Spolarich earned her certificate in dental hygiene from Penn before completing her baccalaureate degree in dental hygiene from Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. She earned her Master of Science degree in dental hygiene and a doctoral degree in physiology from the University of Maryland at Baltimore.

Spolarich has been honored with many awards throughout the course of her career for her notable contributions to the profession.  She previously received the University of Pennsylvania Dental Hygiene Alumni Achievement Award in 2002, and is the only dental hygienist to receive the distinguished Alumni Achievement Award given by the College of Health Professions from Thomas Jefferson University in 1998. The American Dental Hygienists’ Association has awarded Ann with the ADHA/Warner-Lambert Award for Excellence in Dental Hygiene (1997) and the Irene Newman Award, named for the first dental hygienist, for her significant contributions to advancing the art and science of the profession (2012).