OFFICER BIOS
Shari Becker, RDA, CDA, FADAA
President
Shari has over 39 years of experience as a chairside dental assistant and 28 years as an educator. She maintains both her state licensure and national certification in dental assisting. Shari also continues to maintain her full time teaching credential in health occupations.
Shari maintains a position working as a chairside assistant as well as teaching dental assisting at Mt. Diablo Adult Education in Concord, CA. She also teaches for the Santa Clara County Dental Society offering the required 8-hour infection course and the 2-hour California Dental Practice Act course for the unlicensed dental assistant.
She has served on multiple board of directors, including the ADAA, CDAA, and the California Dental Association. She also attends multiple conferences annually and is an active member of the ADAA, CDAA, DAEGRs, OTAO, and OSAP.
Melodi Randolph, RDAEF2, CDA, OAP, BS, MEd
Past-President
Melodi Randolph has been teaching dental assisting for over 30 years in both private and public institutions and has been actively involved in many Allied Dental Health organizations during her professional career. She has been faculty and the dental assisting program director at Sacramento City College, San Joaquin Valley College, and Western Career College. She is the owner of RDA4U, a company approved by the Dental Board of California for all DA and RDA certification courses. She graduated from the first RDAEF2 course ever offered in California and though she thoroughly enjoys clinical dentistry, her real passion is passing along her knowledge and enthusiasm for dentistry to Allied Dental Health students everywhere.
Susan Dahn, RDA
Treasurer
Susan Dahn was first introduced to dentistry in 1979, when she was enrolled in a dental assisting ROP program. From the first day of class she knew she was going to love it and she continues to love it to this day.
She earned her RDA license in 1982 and has held many different positions in the dental offices she has worked in. Her passion though, was found when she started teaching dental assisting in 1994. She learned that through engaging her students and sharing her love of dentistry, she could open doors for some that never thought could be opened. She currently is teaching Registered Dental Assisting for ROP/CTE and adult education.
Cara Miyasaki CDA, RDA, RDHEF, MS
Secretary
Cara Miyasaki has been Director of the Foothill College Dental Assisting Program for almost 30 years. She received her Certificate in Dental Assisting from Foothill College, a B.S. in Dental Hygiene and a M/ in Oral Biology at the University of California, San Francisco School of Dentistry. Cara acquired her licensure for Extended Functions in Dental Assisting/Hygiene at UCSF and also received a Certificate in Educational Technology from UCSC in 1999.
From 1994 to 2008 she has taught in the RDAEF program offered at the UCSF School of Dentistry. Cara has been a training consultant for Invisialign and was a consultant for eHuman 3D tooth educational software.
Her publications include the 5th revision to Chasteen’s Essentials of Clinical Dental Assisting and Risk Management for the Dental Assistant. She also published several chapters (Medical/Dental History and Vital Signs) for Dental Hygiene Theory and Practice (Saunders/Elsevier).