Ms. Cowley is the co-founder and President of The TMJ Association, Ltd., and a TMJ implant patient. Ms. Cowley’s enduring work and dedication has been instrumental in increasing awareness of the needs of TMJ patients among key groups, including policy-makers, the media, Congress, and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) community. Through her leadership, the Association works toward its goal to establish safe and effective means of diagnosis, treatment, and ultimately prevention of temporomandibular disorders (TMD). Ms. Cowley has fulfilled a variety of roles at the Association during the past 15 years. She works directly with patients and their families to provide support, counsel, and information. As the official spokesperson for the Association, Ms. Cowley is a powerful voice for patients and their families to the media, policy-makers, and researchers. She is the leading advocate in Washington and was instrumental in triggering the Congressional hearing of June 4, 1992 entitled: “Are FDA and NIH Ignoring the Dangers of TMJ Implants”. That hearing first revealed the pitiful state of TMJ science and led to significant national media coverage including The Wall Street Journal, 20/20, Women’s Day, and American Journal. In recent years Ms. Cowley contributed to and was quoted in articles appearing in USA Today, U.S. News and World Report, Dallas Morning News, HLB Newsletter, Proto – Massachusetts General Hospital Dispatches from the Frontiers of Medicine, and Dental Abstracts.