2022 World Heart Day: How Oral Health Affects Women’s Risk of Heart Attack

​Dr. Maria Ryan, DDS, PhD, ​Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer at the Colgate-Palmolive Company discusses the link between oral health, heart disease and stroke as well as other health complications. She talks about why women have special oral health requirements as well as what they can do to protect and improve their overall health by focusing on oral health.

Maria Emanuel Ryan, DDS, PhD is Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer at the Colgate-Palmolive Company where she provides oversight and leadership to dental and dermal clinical organizations, knowledge management, scientific communications and the biosolutions team. Dr. Ryan previously served as Professor and Chair of the Department of Oral Biology and Pathology at Stony Brook University where she was actively involved in teaching, clinical practice and research. She is the Past President of the American Association for Dental Research (AADR). Dr. Ryan has received numerous awards including NIH National Research Service Awards and a Physician Scientist Award. She was the recipient of the New Dentist Leadership Award from the Dental Society of the State of New York and received an achievement award from the American Dental Association. Dr. Ryan was the first recipient of the Victress Health Award which she received in Berlin, Germany in 2010 to recognize her educational and research efforts in the area of women’s health. Dr. Ryan is a Distinguished Alumnus of Stony Brook’s School of Dental Medicine and was a Fellow of the Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) Program for Women at Drexel University College of Medicine. Dr. Ryan is a nationally and internationally known speaker and author who has appeared on multiple media outlets to discuss the role of the dental professional in the provision of optimal overall health care.