CODE: Creating Opportunities for Dental Education Grant uri icon

abstract

  • HRSA-10-262 PROJECT ABSTRACT Project Title: CODE: Creating Opportunities for Dental Education Program Area and Discipline(s): Pre-Doctoral Training in General Dentistry Institution Name: East Carolina University School of Dental Medicine Project Director: Margaret B. Wilson, DDS, MBA Project Co-Director: James R. Hupp, DMD, MD, JD, MBA Address of Project Director: Lakeside Annex #7, MS 701, Greenville, NC 27834 Email, Telephone, and FAX of Project Director: wilsonmar@ecu.edu, 252-737-7210, fax 252-737-7049 Discipline(s) included in the proposal: Pre-Doctoral Training in General Dentistry Number of students per year of proposal: 10 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 10 The School of Dental Medicine at East Carolina University proposes to develop a program that will provide financial assistance for students from disadvantaged and minority backgrounds. This program - Creating Opportunities for Dental Education - (CODE) will support the recruitment and training of students from rural areas, from disadvantaged backgrounds, and from underrepresented minority populations. Funding for the project will assist students, who for financial reasons, might otherwise have to delay or forfeit their entry into the Doctor of Dental Medicine program. The project will also enhance the diversity of the dental workforce in North Carolina, while increasing access to oral health care services within communities of need. Enrollment and graduation of students from the CODE program will ultimately support comprehensive efforts of economic development in North Carolina. The School of Dental Medicine (SODM) at East Carolina University (ECU) was established to specifically address the shortage of dentists in regions of North Carolina. Central to the mission of the School is to recruit, admit, enroll and graduate talented individuals who reflect the diversity of today?s society, provide them with the best possible dental education, and encourage them to become primary care dentists, serving in communities of need throughout the state of North Carolina. In meeting its mission, the SODM has developed a programmatic infrastructure that will provide the foundation for increasing the numbers of North Carolina dentists who will practice as general dentists in underserved communities across the state. Commitment to service, moral obligations to society and cultural competency are themes that pervade the curriculum and organizational culture. The curriculum is specifically structured to prepare general dentists to serve in areas where they will not have ready access to specialists for referrals. In the fourth year of the Doctor of Dental Medicine (DMD) program, students will spend the majority of their time providing care for patients in Community Service Learning Centers (CSLCs), located in rural and underserved areas across the state. A substantial portion of the students? learning experiences will take place in the very same communities where graduates will be educated to serve as primary care dentists. The SODM?s educational model effectively leverages significant patient care needs with students? educational needs, providing wonderfully rich opportunities for patient care and student learning. Moreover, dental students? experiences in caring for underserved patients in community-based settings positively impact the students? commitment to providing service for underserved patients in their practices. North Carolina currently ranks 47th among the 50 United States in the numbers of dentists per capita, with the greatest shortages in the non-metropolitan areas in the eastern and western regions of the state. Seventy-three percent of the counties in North Carolina are designated as Dental Health Professions Shortage Areas (DHPSAs). Further compounding the problem of insufficient numbers and poor distribution of dentists is the rapid population growth in the

date/time interval

  • August 2010 - June 2016