Tribute Service Live Stream:
Events
The Tribute Service will take place on Friday, January 30, 2026 starting 11:00AM EST at the Armour J. Blackburn University Center, Howard University, located at 2397 6th St NW, Washington, DC 20059. For those unable to attend the service in-person, you can participate remotely by viewing the live stream of the service (please scroll up to see the video).
Order of Service
Obituary
Dr. Jeanne C. Sinkford is the first woman dean of an American dental school, died peacefully at home on October 1, 2025, surrounded by her children. She was 92 years old.
Dr. Sinkford was born on January 30, 1933, in Washington, D.C., to Richard and Geneva J. Craig. She attended Catholic elementary and middle schools in the District of Columbia before graduating at age 16 from the Paul Laurence Dunbar Senior High School, the first public high school for African Americans. At Dunbar, she learned leadership skills in its cadet corps. Dunbar was a beacon of Black excellence and renowned for its rigorous academics. She was very proud to come from a family that valued education and was committed to lifelong learning.
Dr. Sinkford was a nationally and internationally renowned oral health educator, administrator, researcher, and clinician. After entering Howard University at age 16 and graduating Phi Beta Kappa in 1955, she went on to attend the Howard University College of Dentistry, where she graduated first in her dental class in 1958, with a D.D.S. degree. This accolade of being “the first woman” landed her on the cover of Jet magazine. She later earned her M.S. (1962) and Ph.D. (1963) from Northwestern University, before completing a residency in pedodontics at Children’s National Medical Center in 1975. That same year, she made history as the first woman to serve as Dean of a U.S. dental school, leading the Howard University College of Dentistry from 1975 to 1991. She is known across the nation for encouraging women and marginalized individuals to pursue terminal degrees in medicine and healthcare, particularly oral health. She served as a mentor to countless women and this was her overriding joy, thus, providing the roadmap and example that “this can be done”.
After retiring from Howard University, she joined the American Dental Education Association (ADEA) in 1998 as its Associate Executive Director and Founder and Director of ADEA’s Center for Equity and Diversity. A prolific writer, she authored more than 100 scholarly publications throughout her career. Additionally, as of October 2025, her 2022 Journal of Dental Education article, “Gender equality in the 21st century: Overcoming barriers to women’s leadership in global health,” co-authored with Dr. Sonya G. Smith, has 48,000 plus full-text views/downloads, more than any other peer-reviewed article on the history of the JDE.
Additionally, Dr. Sinkford’s passion project and pivotal work about African American women breaking glass ceilings was realized in June 2021. In this pivotal work, Dr. Sinkford co-authored, along with Drs. Sheila S. Price, and Marilyn P. Woolfolk the book, Undaunted Trailblazers: Minority Women Leaders for Oral Health – A Collection of 31 Inspiring Stories of Triumph and Achievement. Dr. Sinkford’s iconic professional achievements are preserved for future generations in recorded interviews by the University of Michigan’s Sindecuse Museum of Dentistry, and her oral history is included in The History Makers Collection, housed in the Library of Congress.
Throughout Dr. Sinkford’s remarkable career, she held influential roles on numerous national committees, advisory councils, and governing boards, shaping policy and advancing opportunities in oral health education, the academic health professions, oral health, and health care. Most notably among them were lifetime memberships in both the American Dental Society and the National Dental Society, and serving in numerous research and advisory capacities at the National Institutes of Health, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, and on the Tuskegee Syphilis Study Ad Hoc Advisory Panel. In 1975, she was elected to the Institute of Medicine, now National Academy of Medicine, which is reserved for their most respected leaders and clinical researchers in health care.
Her extraordinary contributions were recognized with countless awards and honors including the Lucy Hobbs Taylor Award; the Herbert W. Nickens Award; the John R. Callahan Memorial Award; the ADEA William John Gies Award; the Pierre Fauchard Academy Gold Medal; the National Dental Association Trailblazer Award, the American Dental Association’s Distinguished Service Award, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Academy of Dentists, and the ADEA Distinguished Service Award. Additionally, there are currently three (3) ADEA awards presented each year in her name: the ADEA/Colgate Oral Pharmaceuticals, Inc., National Dental Association Dr. Jeanne C. Sinkford Scholar in the ADEA Leadership Institute, ADEA Dr. Jeanne C. Sinkford Faculty Leadership Award, and the ADEA Dr. Jeanne C. Sinkford Student Leadership Award.
Dr. Sinkford was the recipient of alumni achievement awards from both Howard University and Northwestern University. Additionally, she was the recipient of several honorary degrees. They include Georgetown University College of Dentistry; Meharry College of Medicine; the University of Detroit-Mercy; the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey; and the University of Michigan, where artifacts from her career are on permanent display at its Sindecuse Museum of Dentistry. The Howard University Board of Trustees awarded her an honorary doctorate in 2019. She was one of the first women to be honored by the National Coalition of 100 Black Women when she was awarded the Candace Award. In the spirit of oral traditions, her iconic professional achievements were recorded and preserved for future generations by both the University of Michigan’s Sindecuse Museum of Dentistry and The HistoryMakers, the latter now housed in the Library of Congress.
Dr. Sinkford’s lifetime dedication to excellence, inclusion, access, and educational transformation in the oral health, health care, and the academic health professions has and will continue to inspire generations of students, residents, fellows, colleagues, and future leaders. She will be remembered not only for her trailblazing accomplishments and selfless love and sacrifice but also for her unwavering commitment to opening doors for others.
Dr. Sinkford leaves behind a legacy of love and care. She was predeceased by her husband of 60 years, Dr. Stanley M. Sinkford, Jr., and her parents Richard and Geneva J. Craig. Left to cherish her legacy are her three children, Dianne S. Sinkford of Silver Spring, MD; Janet Sinkford Jones (Burnell) of Spring, TX; and Dr. Stanley M. Sinkford, III (Kimberly) of Washington, D.C.; granddaughters, Zoe G. Sinkford and Nina N. Sinkford of Washington, D.C.; sister, Janet C. Archer (the Late Fred D. Archer, Jr., D.D.S.) of Amherst, NY; sister-in-law, Madeline Sinkford Greene (Ret. Judge William P. Greene, Jr.) of Annapolis, MD; cousins Irene V. Ball of Clinton, MD; Thornell Jones of Arnold, MD; Annette L. Williams of Annapolis, MD; M. Stephanie Williams of Takoma Park, MD; Vinette Jones of Alexandria, VA; and a host of nieces, nephews and friends. She was beloved by family, friends, and colleagues, and will be greatly missed.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you make contributions in Dr. Sinkford’s name to carry on her legacy and exceptional work to the Howard University College of Dentistry and/or the American Dental Education Association. Please see the information and contacts below.
Donations in memory of Dr. Jeanne C. Sinkford may be made to:
Howard University College of Dentistry:
James Jordan, Director of Development, Health Science, james.jordan@howard.edu , office phone 202-238-2397