In 2015 Representative Susan Concannon began her 2nd term in the Kansas Legislature, where she sits on Federal & State Affairs, Health & Human Services, and Ag & Natural Resources committees. The stay-at-home mother of 3 and community volunteer has lived in Beloit for 28 years with her husband, Dr. Craig Concannon. Susan served 1 term on the Beloit City Council, as well as numerous leadership positions in her church, the school, and the community. Before running for office, Susan established a medical foundation to support the Mitchell County Hospital and various health projects in the region. She is a past secretary for the state Republican Party, a past state president of the Kansas Medical Society Alliance, and a graduate of KARL (Kansas Agriculture & Rural Leadership).

Megan Foreman is the Policy Manager at Oral Health Kansas, a position that includes overseeing and implementing the Oral Health 2014 initiative. Megan has been in health policy for several years, most recently running ForemanINK, a freelance writing and consulting company focused on producing publications for national nonprofit organizations. Prior to moving to Kansas City and striking out on her own, Megan was a senior policy specialist at the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL). During her six years at NCSL, Megan worked on a variety of state health policy issues, serving as the content expert on adolescent health, managing a number of grants under the Adolescent Health Project, and writing extensively.
Megan graduated from the University of Denver with a B.A. in public policy and journalism studies.

Dr. Allison Lesko joined New Horizons Dental Care in Salina, Kansas after earning her Doctorate of Dental Surgery from UMKC School of Dentistry in 2007 and completion of a General Practice Residency at Truman Medical Center in 2008.

Continued education and patient comfort are passions of Dr. Lesko’s. She strives to provide exceptional dentistry while creating a calming and welcoming environment. She is committed to completing at least 100 hours of dental continuing education each year and focuses primarily on regenerative procedures such as grafting, implants, cosmetics and advanced sedation techniques. She is also dedicated to giving back to the underserved by participating in numerous annual local outreach events as well as international dental mission trips.

Dr. Lesko is active in multiple organizations and local leadership roles. She is an active member in the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, Dental Organization for Conscious Sedation, American Dental Association, Crown Council, Kansas Dental Association and the Salina Dental Society. She has served as the Salina Dental Society President since 2009, Campaign manager for Keep Fluoride in 2014 and Volunteer Co-Chairman for the 2015 Kansas Mission of Mercy. Her dedication to improving dentistry and public health have thusly earned her awards as the American Associate of Public Health Award in 2007, Crown Council’s Young Dentist of the Year in 2011, Soaring Eagle Award in 2015, and Outstanding Community Leader by Oral Health Kansas in 2015.

Outside of dentistry, Dr. Lesko and her husband Michael enjoy spending time with their two little girls; Lorelei and Annika, and their friends and family. Her passions are innovative cooking, music and triathlons. Dr. Lesko also enjoys playing and composing for the piano and loves to share this with her girls during their family music time. Whether it's in dentistry or in her personal life, Dr. Lesko enjoys challenging herself and taking time to enjoy life's journey and the people who share it with her.

Heather Robinson, RDH serves as the Director of Oral Health for Kansas Association for the Medically Underserved (KAMU). She joined KAMU in March 2014 as the Part time Oral Health Coordinator. As Director of Oral Health, Heather is involved in many oral health initiatives within the state of Kansas. She has worked to obtain and execute various related grants. Heather is a Registered Dental Hygienist and received her Bachelor of Science from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Dentistry. Prior to accepting her position with KAMU, she worked in the private dental sector, providing direct patient care. Heather lives in Topeka with her two sons, Jacob and Cole. She looks forward to continuing her efforts statewide, as oral health continues to gain attention in Kansas.

Niki Sadler has been at the Kansas Dental Association for 13 years where she serves as Operations Coordinator. Niki spent most of this time producing the Association’s print publications, performing the necessary functions involved with meeting planning, and serving as a project coordinator for the Kansas Mission of Mercy (KMOM) free dental projects since its inception in 2003. She performs a majority of the “behind the scenes” organization for KMOM and provides assistance to other state coordinators on how to set up the administrative process when developing their own Mission of Mercy projects. Last year, Niki proposed and helped implement a plan to revitalize the KDA’s annual Children’s Dental Health Month third-grade drawing contest that was suffering from dwindling school participation. Her concepts of rewarding teachers of the contest winners, and also challenging teachers to be creative and create a class project showing what they were doing to promote dental health in the classroom for the chance for $500, yielded immediate success which continues to grow.

Niki was recently given the opportunity to become the administrator of the Peer Review alternative dispute resolution program and the Well Being program promoting wellness and substance abuse recognition and prevention. Niki sits on the Heart of America Professionals Network Board and currently serves as president and is also on the Topeka 501 Bio-Medical Pathways Advisory Board.

Niki is originally from Nebraska and moved to Kansas in 1999. She and her husband have a blended family with 5 active children. Niki is also a full-time student, soon to complete a bachelor’s degree in Business Management. In her free time, Niki enjoys going to stand-up comedy clubs with her husband and getting together with family and friends to play cards and board games.

Dr. Amy Seery is a native to Wichita and has always been passionate about public health care. She completed her undergraduate at Kansas State University and her medical degree at the University of Kansas. Amy did her pediatric training at the Barbara Bush Children's Hospital at Maine Medical Center in Portland, Maine. She has since returned to Wichita as a member of the Via Christi Family Medicine Residency program faculty. Amy is passionate about childhood obesity, oral health, and cyberbullying. She also enjoys international travel and is an avid reader.

Jane is a public health nurse and worked many years at the Jefferson County Health Department focusing on school health and chronic disease risk reduction. She joined the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) in 2008 as the Program Manager for Kansas Coordinated School Health.  She currently is the director of the KDHE Center for Population Health and is also the Director of the Local Public Health Program, working with local health departments all across the state.  With colleagues, she developed and now directs the work of the Kansas Accreditation Readiness Project (KARP) as well as several other state and local initiatives to further individual agency progress toward accreditation.

Jane has an undergraduate degree in Nursing and a master’s degree in health education from the University of Kansas. She is a Public Health Accreditation Board site visitor and a Kansas Health Foundation Fellow.  She chairs the Kansas Public Health Workforce Development Coordinating Council and serves on several public health and workforce development workgroups and committees.

Jane enjoys gardening, reading and hiking and she makes it a priority to travel frequently to visit her four grown sons.

Pam Smith is the Fluoridation Specialist and Evaluator at Kansas Department Health & Environment – Bureau of Oral Health.  She is originally from Liberty Missouri and moved to the great state of Kansas in 1982.  Pam currently resides with her family in Lenexa, and enjoys participating in the Lenexa BBQ & Chili competition held annually.  Pam has always had a passion for oral health and graduated from Johnson County Community College with an AAS in Dental Hygiene in 1998.

Pam began her hygiene career in private practice in the Kansas City area in both general dentistry and Periodontal practices. While in the periodontal practice Pam was able to increase her ability to offer her patients the latest technologies by using NdYag laser and became certified in CO2 laser therapy.  Pam enjoyed her time in the private practice, but saw such a much higher dental need when volunteering in the Kansas School Screening Program since its inception in 2008.  This led to Pam participating in several Kansas and Missouri Mission of Mercy programs over the last several years.  This also inspired Pam to enroll and complete the Extended Care Permit III Certification through UMKC that the KDA and other dental professionals helped to create to allow another level of care for underserved people in Kansas. 

Pam joined KDHE – Bureau of Oral Health in the summer of 2014.  Since joining, she has completed water fluoridation and evaluation training with the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention and is currently participating in Class VII of the Oral Health Kansas Leadership Program offered through the Kansas Leadership Center in Wichita.  She is also furthering oral health community by serving as the 2015 Oral Health Chair for the Kansas Public Health Association.

Christie Steege has been the executive director for the Kansas Chapter, American Academy of Pediatrics for 25 years.  She is also the executive director for the Chapter’s Foundation, the Kansas Pediatric Foundation.   Ms. Steege supervises all aspects of the Kansas Chapter and its Foundation including, educational provider programs, continuing medical education requirements, conferences, grants, and finances.  

Ms. Steege has served on the National AAP Executive Director Steering Committee; member, 1995 - 1999, Vice Chairperson, 1999 - 2002, Chairperson, 2002-2005, and Past Chairperson, 2006 -2009.Ms. Steege feels a Chapter Executive Director brings continuity and management expertise to the organization and is impressed with the dedication and commitment of pediatricians to the children in Kansas.

Cathleen Taylor-Osborne, DDS, MA, began her position as the State Dental Director in the Bureau of Oral Health in the Kansas Department of Health and Environment March 24th, 2014. After practicing for over 15 years as a dental hygienist, she entered the UMKC School of Dentistry and graduated in 1997. In December, 2011, she completed a Masters in Bioethics and Health Policy from Loyola-Chicago. In March, 2012 she began working as the dental director and one of three providers at Cabot Westside Medical and Dental Clinic, a safety net clinic in Kansas City, MO. Cabot became a part of Samuel U. Rodgers Health Clinic, a federally-qualified health clinic in November, 2013. She is married to Dr. James Osborne, an orthodontist who is currently the clinical director of the Graduate Orthodontic Residency program at UMKC School of Dentistry.

For over 20 years, Dr. Thurlow has been delivering dental care to patients in her local community! A native of Kansas City, she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Kansas, where she majored in Human Development. After graduating from UMKC School of Dentistry in 1994, she completed a general practice residency at the Kansas City Veteran’s Administration Hospital. She was a faculty member at UMKC in the department of Oral Surgery and JCCC Dental Hygiene program. She has been in private practice in Johnson County, at Johnson County Dental Care since 1994.

Dr. Thurlow is also the Clinical Director for the Dental Hygiene Program at Concorde Career College.  She has served in this capacity since the program’s inception in 2010.

Expanding care to the underserved is a passion for Dr. Thurlow.  Teaching the Public Health course and organizing community service activities for the Dental Hygiene Program at Concorde Career College has only deepened the commitment she has for reaching out to populations in need of dental care and instilling that desire to her graduates.

Due to her years of service to organized dentistry and community involvement, Dr. Thurlow was awarded the honor of Dentist of the Year by the Fifth District Dental Society of Kansas in 2008.  In 2012, Dr. Thurlow was awarded the Instructor of the Year in Allied Heath for Kansas and Missouri Private and Career Colleges.  2014 was a great year for Dr. Thurlow as she was the recipient of the Golden Apple Award as well as the Excellence in Education Award for her dedication to the students in the Dental Hygiene Program at Concorde Career College.