Expected to serve as a model for dental schools across the country, the program is being developed under a $1.5 million grant from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to address what the U.S. Surgeon General calls "profound and consequential disparities in the oral health of our citizens."

The UIC program is intended to bring dental care and prevention services to underserved urban and rural populations and increase the diversity of the dental workforce in the state by recruiting more minority and low-income students into the profession.

"We hope to create a healthcare workforce committed to treating oral diseases in vulnerable populations," said Linda Kaste, director of predoctoral dental public health at UIC. "Future practitioners will start thinking not just about who is in the chair, but who is not in the chair -- who needs dental care and disease prevention and how those services can be delivered."

"The college is no stranger to outreach," said Dean Bruce Graham. "But the new curriculum will make community collaboration an integral part of the dental school program."

Over the five-year term of the grant, UIC will work in partnership with community clinics, charitable organizations, government health departments and healthcare systems to identify locations where dental students can do clinical rotations.

According to William Knight, assistant dean for patient care and clinical education, the revised curriculum will provide community-based experiences for students starting in their first semester of dental school and continuing throughout their education. First-year courses will include prevention, denta
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Contact: Sharon Butler
sbutler@uic.edu
312-355-2522
University of Illinois at Chicago
8-Oct-2002