This award aims to recognize the contributions of a career scholar in dental anthropology. The innovation must have occurred within the immediate 10 years preceding the nomination for the award. Individuals will be recognized for pushing the discipline in exciting, novel, and ethical directions, which can include teaching, research, outreach, or service.
This year, we are proud to recognize Dr. Heather JH Edgar for her innovative research and significant professional service in the subfield of dental anthropology. Dr. Edgar consistently demonstrates a commitment to expanding the accessibility of dental anthropology and advancing our methodologies. Over the last ten years, she established two major, pay-wall-free, research databases (New Mexico Decedent Image Database and the Orthodontics Case File System), developed an accessible method for perikymata analysis, and helped develop an application designed to make it easier for forensic practitioners to collect and use dental morphology data (FoRDent). In addition to establishing these databases and applications, over the last decade, Dr. Edgar contributed to 40+ conference presentations and posters, 30+ peer-reviewed journal articles, two books, including Dental Morphology for Anthropology: An Illustrated Manual (2017), and 10+ book chapters. Beyond her scholarship, Dr. Edgar has been a stalwart and influential mentor for many early-career dental anthropologists and has served the DAA in numerous roles, including her term as President (2016-2019). It is our honor to award her the Innovation in Dental Anthropology Award for all she has done and continues to do for our discipline.