Molina Healthcare Scholarship Recipients “Pay it Forward” in Their Communities
Established at the college in 2021 and funded by the nonprofit Molina Foundation, the Molina Healthcare Scholarship helps committed students pursue their dream of providing care to indigent patients in federally designated Dental Professional Shortage Areas in Ohio. Two recipients of the scholarship already exemplify its lofty purpose of addressing health disparities in dental care.
Here are their stories.
Davern Holloway, ’23 DDS
In barely three decades on this planet, Dr. Davern Holloway has already done more to benefit the world than most people do in a lifetime. To hear her discuss her education and career trajectory is to understand how passionate she is about helping people in underserved communities.
Born on Long Island, New York, to missionary parents, she says, “They instilled in me a love for God and a heart for serving others.” By the time she was eighteen, she had lived in ten countries in and around the African continent, giving her an early awareness of the plight of disadvantaged communities.
Returning to the States, she studied pre-law and history at Washington Adventist University in Maryland, graduating summa cum laude. She planned to become an international lawyer, but the pre-law focus on policy and research made her realize she wanted to be more directly involved in affecting lives. So she earned a master’s degree at Brandeis in sustainable international development. As part of her thesis research, she spent eight months working with rural populations in Madagascar. It was an experience that ignited her interest in health care and altered her career trajectory.
Her decision also required lengthy re-education—eight more years—since she had no science courses behind her. She completed some courses in Southern California and the rest at Wright State University after moving to Dayton, Ohio, where her husband, Christopher Holloway, MD, was
a medical resident.
While working with the Weimer Institute in California, she attended a Pathways to Health event in San Francisco. “It was then that I learned how scarce dental care is in some U.S. communities,” she said.
In 2019, the couple moved to Columbus, where Davern attended the College of Dentistry. “With two other degrees, going back to school was tough,” she said, “but I realized the impact a dental career would have. The financial burden was heavy, but the two-year
Molina scholarship made it possible to pursue a career in less lucrative areas.”
While still in school, she worked with her husband and other young professionals to start a nonprofit called BRIGHT. Their goal is to advocate for communities via educational development and expanding access to high-value holistic care. Through mentorship, they also encourage minority youth to pursue careers in health care.
Dr. Holloway’s dream is to own a mobile clinic that can take dental care into underserved communities.
Next summer, when she completes her GPR residency at the College of Dentistry, Dr. Holloway and her husband will join other health professionals traveling to Ghana to provide health care, using their own money and funds they’ve raised for equipment and medicine. The Holloways will be taking along their new daughter, August (named for the poet/playwright), who will be two years old by then. If young August continues the family tradition, she will likely spend her life in service to others.
Mosep Okonny, ’22 DDS
A fractured tooth at age eight, and the excellent dental care she received then, influenced the career choice for Dr. Mosep Okonny. “The dentist jokingly asked me to become a dentist one day,” she remembers. “It was the first time I had ever seen a Black female dentist and I was mesmerized by the way she could fix my tooth. It was like magic to me.”
Born in Nigeria, Dr. Okonny still has a large, extended family there. She and her mother and sister immigrated to the United States when she was eight, joining her father, who was then working in retail in Cincinnati. That’s where she had the “magic” dental care.
Dr. Okonny says she always enjoyed working with her hands, but helping people was a prime motivator in her decision to become a dentist. “The Molina Scholarship meant the world to me,” she says. “It gave me much-needed peace of mind as I was wrapping up my final year of dental school. It also helped me feel more comfortable with my decision to return to my Cincinnati neighborhood to practice.”
The neighborhood where she grew up is ironically named Mt. Healthy. The area is in north-central Cincinnati and has about 7,000 residents, with a median income of $24,000*. The clinic where Dr. Okonny practices is designated as a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC), serving low-income patients and those who cannot use private-pay facilities. “Our clinic and other local sites serve as a safety net, providing preventive care, restorations, and extractions to patients in need,” she said. Another irony is that she currently works with that dentist who inspired her career choice so many years ago, Lynda Roberts-Riddle, DDS.
Dr. Okonny not only returned to her old neighborhood, she also returned to her high school—this time as a caregiver and inspiring role model. “I’m blessed with the opportunity to provide dental care in my old high school. I enjoy working in that environment, and I like to tell the students my story and show them they can also achieve if they work hard and are determined.”
Last summer, Dr. Okonny was married—twice. The first was an American ceremony, and the next day, the couple had a Nigerian ceremony to honor the traditions of her heritage. Her new husband, Jared Knueven, works in IT as an integration engineer in Cincinnati. Avid soccer fans, the couple can be found on weekends at FC Cincinnati games with her in-laws cheering the Orange and Blue. Like her favorite team, Dr. Mosep Okonny is winning hearts in Mt. Healthy doing what she cares most about: helping people.