Hastings receives honorable mention for Public Health Community Champion Award

Angie Hastings, DMD, clinical associate professor and director of the Division of Community Outreach and Engagement, received an Honorable Mention for the American Institute on Disparities in Public Health’s Community Champion Award.

The Community Champion Award “recognizes individuals and organizations who have demonstrated a deep and sustained commitment to centering community voices and advancing equitable, whole person care,” according to the organization.

Hastings sees centering community voices as the heart of everything she does—ensuring that communities lead information sharing and expertise about themselves. “When developing courses that teach cultural humility, specifically when teaching about a culture other than my own, I seek to hire consultants who are from these communities,” she explained.

Her passion for uplifting community voices and championing her community is what led Hastings to her role at the School of Dentistry. “When I was working full time providing patient care, I was unsettled by the amount of dental disease I saw in our community, specifically in vulnerable populations such as children of color,” she explained. “I wanted to focus energy on the ‘big picture’ of influencing systemic change and expanding access to care in Minnesota. In my dual role as clinical associate professor and division director, I work to inspire the next generation of dental professionals to understand their social responsibility to treat all communities and to decrease barriers to dental care.”

While most of Hastings’s work is centered on community, her Honorable Mention recognized her work over the past five years securing nearly $700,000 in grant funds from organizations like the Minnesota Department of Health, the Delta Dental of Minnesota Foundation and the University of Minnesota’s Office of Equity and Diversity. These funds support rural and underserved clinical rotations and courses. “These generous grants have allowed us to establish new partnerships in rural communities including Grand Marais and Faribault,” Hastings explained. This opened up additional Outreach locations for DDS and dental therapy students—and even led to Reilly Wahlers, BSDH ’25, MDT ’26, getting a job at Grand Marais Family Dentistry after her rotation and subsequent graduation.

“That was a big win in my eyes,” Hastings said.

Hastings said she is “truly humbled” to receive the Honorable Mention. She’s also proud to know that the award went to “fellow Minnesotan and public health champion,” Nicole Ferrian, a dental hygienist at Apple Tree Dental.

At the end of the day, the award reflects what matters most to Hastings: caring well for our communities and ensuring oral health care access for all.

“Recognizing the adage that ‘we are not free until we all are free,’ I believe it is important for those of us with privilege and power to use our voices and our resources to provide support to communities and individuals who experience barriers to basic rights and freedoms,” she said. “I believe dental care is a human right, yet it is treated as a privilege in our country.”