Richard Workman, DMD, founder of Effingham, Ill.-based DSO Heartland Dental, and his wife, Angela Workman, donated $5 million to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Adams School of Dentistry, the school said April 14.
The gift will be used to establish the school's Dr. and Mrs. Richard E. Workman Dental Leadership Endowment Fund, which will provide career preparation and leadership training to students in the school’s Doctor of Dental Surgery, post-DDS and dental hygiene programs.
The new training will be added to the school's advocate-clinician-thinker curriculum, launched in 2021 to provide enhanced training in leadership, person-centered care, effective decision- making, practice management and behavioral sciences.
The gift is also part of the school's Campaign for Carolina, an aggressive fundraising campaign announced in 2017 that aims to raise $4.25 billion by the end of this year. In 2020, the Workmans donated $1 million to the dental school to go toward leadership training programs.
Dr. Workman founded Heartland Dental in 1997, and it now supports more than 2,400 doctors in 1,600 offices across 38 states. His wife, Angela, a member of the Heartland Foundation Advisory Board.