Our Founders

Jill Sirko, PhD, co-founded KaiAvora Health with the goal of making oral health science central to the broader conversation around whole-body health. She brings a unique combination of expertise in research, science communication, healthcare advocacy, and systems innovation, with nearly two decades of experience working across academia, nonprofit leadership, and healthcare organizations.

Most recently, Jill served as Director of External Relations at the ADA Forsyth Institute, one of the world’s leading oral health research organizations, where she oversaw strategic initiatives, high-profile events, and communications and marketing. In that position, she played a key role in supporting the historic integration of the American Dental Association and the Forsyth Institute.

Throughout her career, Jill has focused on bridging the gap between science and real-world care, helping organizations communicate complex research in ways that drive innovation, collaboration, and measurable impact. Her background includes nonprofit and advocacy work supporting underserved communities through health education, patient advocacy, and community engagement initiatives. An experienced science communications strategist and writer, she has developed white papers, educational materials, thought leadership content, academic publications, marketing campaigns, and media stories focused on healthcare, prevention, and systems-level change.

Jill holds a PhD in English Literature from Duke University and an MA in Humanities and Social Thought from New York University. Her interdisciplinary training in research and systems analysis continues to inform her work building more connected, prevention-focused models of healthcare.

Megan Pugach-Gordon, PhD, is Co-Founder and COO of KaiAvora Health, where she is helping advance a new standard of prevention-focused wellness grounded in the connection between oral health and overall health.

Megan brings more than 25 years of experience in academic dentistry, with a research career dedicated to oral health disparities, biomimetic tooth repair, and the enamel-microbiome-saliva interface. She has served as Assistant Faculty and Director of Community Outreach & Education at the ADA Forsyth Institute, a global leader in oral health research. She has held faculty appointments at both Harvard School of Dental Medicine and Boston University School of Dental Medicine, serving as an Instructor in Developmental Biology and Lecturer, respectively, where she has mentored student researchers and taught first-year dental students and orthodontic residents in tooth development and pathology.

Her independently funded NIH research has advanced the understanding of enamel formation, inherited enamel disorders, and susceptibility to dental caries, with a long-term vision of preventing severe early childhood caries in underserved populations. As longtime Director of the Forsyth Student Scholars Program, Megan has mentored a generation of young scientists from underrepresented backgrounds and secured the program’s first-ever NIH funding in its more than 30-year history, advancing both science and access in tandem.

Megan holds a PhD in Oral and Craniofacial Sciences from the University of California, San Francisco School of Dentistry, completed postdoctoral training at the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine, and earned her undergraduate degree in Physical Anthropology from Washington University in St. Louis.