Down and Out or Down and About? Raising Awareness of Mental Health Issues in Dentistry

Speaker, author, and vulnerable populations advocate, Sherri Lukes has been a dental hygienist for 43 years, holding advanced degrees in education. She is associate professor emerita, Southern Illinois University, where she taught general and oral pathology, public health, and multicultural dental hygiene. Her research focus was oral pathology and migrant farmworker oral health, resulting in multiple peer reviewed publications. Sherri enjoys integrating her years of experience into CE courses to empower dental professionals in the process of care. She is an approved speaker of and holds a pathology fellowship in the American Academy of Dental Hygiene, is a past president of the Illinois Dental Hygienists’ Association, and a member of the American Academy of Oral Medicine. Community service includes biannual trips to central/southern Mexico, delivering preventive care in an orphanage and remote villages. Honors include Community Service, Research, and Teacher of the Year awards at SIU, Illinois Department of Public Health Oral Health Champion, the Sunstar/RDH Award of Distinction and 2024 Western Society of Perio DH speaker of the year.