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2026 Honours

Spring Honours

Colleen Duguay

Colleen Duguay

Congratulations to Colleen Duguay, owner of Colleen Dental Hygiene Care Inc., winner of a Greater Moncton Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence Award in the Innovation category. The award celebrates the success of local entrepreneurs and organizations, while also highlighting the spirit of collaboration, innovation, and community leadership that makes Greater Moncton such a vibrant place to do business.

Ashleigh Peck

Ashleigh Peck

Kingston Ontario’s Ashleigh Peck, owner of Purely Mobile Hygiene, recently received a 2025 Frontenac Access Award recognizing those who make significant contributions towards improving access for people with disabilities in Frontenac County. Ashleigh’s mobile dental hygiene business facilitates home-call access to dental hygiene care. Her clients include people living with mobility challenges and those for whom visiting a traditional dental office is overstimulating. She also provides services to people living in retirement and long-term care homes, and those who live in rural areas of Frontenac County.

Jasmeen Rai

Jasmeen Rai

Congratulations to University of Manitoba CDHA dental hygiene student member Jasmeen Rai. At the Dr. Gerald Niznick College of Dentistry and School of Dental Hygiene awards evening on October 30, 2025, Jasmeen received two of the School of Dental Hygiene’s most prestigious awards. She was honoured with both the Dr. AW Hogg Scholarship (for highest standing in the second year of the program) and the Isbister Undergraduate Scholarship in Dental Hygiene (for the student with the highest academic standing). She also received three other scholarships and made the Dean’s Honour List.

Michelle Aubé-Simmonds

Michelle Aubé-Simmonds

Michelle Aubé-Simmonds was honoured to qualify for a lifetime membership in Brock University’s Golden Key International Honour Society. Golden Key is a global collegiate honour society that recognizes university students for exceptional academic excellence and achievement, inviting only the top 15% of undergraduate students within each faculty. Michelle’s 4.0 GPA (94% average) in the Bachelor of Arts in Adult Education program made her one of the highest-achieving students in the entire faculty.

CDHA student members from Dalhousie University

CDHA student members from Dalhousie University

Congratulations to the following CDHA student members from Dalhousie University who were recent recipients of academic awards:

  • Rebecca Aube: Glenda Butt Bursary
  • Kelsey Blackwood: 123 Dentist Scholarship for Enthusiasm, awarded for good academic standing and demonstrating leadership and enthusiasm in their profession
  • Kelsey Blackwood and Emma Haller: Keating-Bekkers Award in Dental Hygiene for excellence in dental hygiene
  • Gincy Padickakudiyil George: Nova Scotia Dental Association Clinical Collaboration Award for exceptional collaboration with colleagues in the management of clinical patient care
  • Emma Haller: Outstanding Dental Hygiene Student Award for highest academic standing in all subjects and integrity towards the profession
  • Risnu Ann Jacob: Lisa Van Alphen Memorial Award for recognition of sound standing and professional excellence, in tribute to a person of integrity and sincerity
Shauna Hachey

Shauna Hachey

We celebrate Shauna Hachey, who was recognized at the Special Olympics Nova Scotia Inspired Gala on February 18 as the recipient of the Golisano Health Leadership Award from Special Olympics Nova Scotia. Since 2018, Shauna has been a driving force behind the Special Smiles program in Nova Scotia, bringing clinical expertise, visionary leadership, and a deep commitment to oral health equity for athletes with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Beyond Special Olympics, Shauna’s leadership extends nationally through her service with the Canadian Society of Disabilities and Oral Health.

The Filipino-Canadian Dental Hygienists’ Society

The Filipino-Canadian Dental Hygienists’ Society

The Filipino-Canadian Dental Hygienists’ Society’s “Going Miles for Healthy Smiles” project has been selected as a recipient of an Oral Health International Foundation (OHIF) grant. This achievement means their 2026 dental mission in the Philippines will be fully funded. Congratulations to this inspiring organization led by Noreen Ocampo and her entire team, which includes many CDHA members.

Brooke Kinden

Brooke Kinden

Congratulations to Brooke Kinden, recipient of Dalhousie University’s Early Career Award. Brooke collaborates with two other dental hygienists in an independent practice in Newfoundland, offering a full range of preventive dental hygiene services, education programs, a mobile service for seniors, and evening and weekend appointments.

Kathy Yerex

Kathy Yerex

Kathy Yerex was named the University of Manitoba’s Indigenous Career Mentor Program’s Mentor of the Month for December 2025. The Indigenous Career Mentor Program supports Indigenous students in gathering information about their chosen careers. Indigenous mentors meet with Indigenous students, provide advice on how to navigate career opportunities and challenges, and share their own professional and personal experiences.

Leigha Rock

Leigha Rock

Congratulations to Leigha Rock, who has been appointed as Chair of the Mike Petryk School of Dentistry and Senior Associate Dean (Dental Affairs), University of Alberta, for a five-year term beginning August 1. Dr. Rock brings extensive academic and national leadership experience to her new position, including serving as the current president of the Canadian Association for Dental Research, co-chair of Canada’s National Oral Health Research Strategy, and current director of the School of Dental Hygiene at Dalhousie University. She is also a scientist at the Beatrice Hunter Cancer Research Institute and a scientific affiliate at Nova Scotia Health. Dr. Rock’s lab team at Dalhousie was recently awarded a CIHR Catalyst Grant in the Biomedical Research Pool for $599,869! Their project will mobilize a pan-Canadian network for multi-omics and oral health, leveraging Canadian Health Measures Survey (Cycle 7) data and deep sequencing to uncover patterns in antimicrobial resistance, and will have a significant impact on Canadian—and global—oral and systemic health research.

Francine Leach

Francine Leach

We are proud to recognize Nova Scotia dental hygienist Francine Leach (left in photo), who recently graduated from St. Francis Xavier University with a master’s degree in education. Congratulations!