LANCASTER, PA – Elizabeth K. Prada, DMD, MPH has been named Executive Director of the Lancaster Cleft Palate Clinic by David B. Hanson, Chairman of the Board of Directors. She previously served the 79-year-old nonprofit health organization as its Clinical Director.
Dr. Prada succeeds Ross E. Long, Jr., DMD, MS, PhD, who has led Lancaster Cleft Palate Clinic since 2000. Dr. Long will continue as the Clinic’s Director Emeritus and as a member of its medical and dental staff.
“After a multi-year search, our Board is delighted to entrust the next chapter of our nearly 79-year story of service to Dr. Prada,” said Hanson. “She embodies the medical skills, leadership talent and missional heart so essential to our next decades of service to our region, our patients and their families. We thank Dr. Long for his innumerable contributions over the years and for his willingness to help carry on a tradition begun in 1938 by his grandfather, Dr. Herbert Cooper, and his father, Dr. Ross Long, Sr.
Dr. Prada joined the Lancaster Cleft Palate Clinic as a member of the Cleft Palate team in 2013. She was instrumental in the founding of the Clinic’s Lime Street Pediatric Dentistry.
Dr. Prada is a board-certified pediatric dentist who has been in practice since 2009. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Biology and Public Policy in 2002 from Duke University. She completed dental school at the University of Pennsylvania with honors in 2006. She continued her studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she pursued dual specialty training in Pediatric Dentistry and Public Health. There she earned a Master’s degree in Health Care Policy and Management in 2008. She completed her residency at UNC Hospitals in 2009.
Dr. Prada is a member of the Department of Surgery at Lancaster General Hospital and the Penn State-Hershey Children’s Hospital. She is also a faculty member for the General Practice Residency Program at Lancaster General Hospital where she teaches pediatrics to general dentists.