Monthly Communication -January 2007 Edition

DENTAL ADVOCACY DAY AND THE REGIONAL INIATIVE IN DENTAL EDUCATION (RIDE)

On January 26, Dental Advocacy Day, members of our School’s faculty, students and I joined with the Washington State Association Dental (WSDA) to meet with legislators and discuss access-to-care concerns. RIDE (Regional Initiatives in Dental Education) has been listed among the top legislative priorities of WSDA for this session. Washington Dental Service representatives were also in attendance, and have expressed their support for RIDE as well.

In December Washington State Governor Christine Gregoire announced that she will invest in the creation and expansion of rural education networks, such as WWAMI (Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, Idaho) and RIDE so that all Washingtonians are able to access high-quality health care. Read the News Release from the Office of the Governor. Governor Gregoire’s proposal will create the first dental education network at WSU Spokane and will address the need for more qualified dentists in rural areas.

Special thanks to our many partners, including the University of Washington, UW School of Medicine, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the members of our RIDE Team (program director Wendy Mouradian, MD, MS; Richard McCoy, DDS, MS; Colleen McKay, BA, BFA; David L. Pitts, DDS, MSD; and Frank A. Roberts, DDS, PhD) and countless others for their support, which has afforded us our success to date. More information is available online: http://www.dental.washington.edu/ride

BILL AND MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION GLOBAL HEALTH PROGRAM

On January 17 Dr. Tadataka (Tachi) Yamada, the Executive Director of the Global Health program for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation presented to the Board of Health Sciences Deans. The conference provided School of Public Health Dean Patricia Wahl and me with an opportunity to help educate Dr. Yamada about the global health crisis of dental caries. As a follow-up, I have invited him to meet with me to learn more about managing and treating dental caries and to find a way to work together in the months to come.

DENTAL HEALTH AIDE THERAPIST (DHAT) PROGRAM

Late last month the inaugural class of students enrolled in the Dental Health Aide Therapist (DHAT) program convened in Anchorage, Alaska.  The first year of the program, housed in Alaska, is coordinated by the University of Washington School of Medicine’s MEDEX Northwest, program and focuses on oral disease prevention.  Some of these courses may be taught by faculty from the UW’s School of Dentistry.  A second-year proposal by ANTHC will operate independent of UW faculty.  In 2006 the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC) received a W.K. Kellogg Foundation grant to train dental health aide therapists to provide selected dental services for populations living in remote and rural communities under general supervision by dentists. Individuals selected for the program are residents from rural Alaskan communities.  We look forward to working with MEDEX to implement an educational training program that focuses on preventive care that will help to meet the unique oral health care needs of our region.  Read the UW Daily article online.

BOARD OF DEANS TOUR SAFECO PROPERTY

As a member of the Board of Deans, I participated in a tour of the Safeco property in the University District on January 9.  In 2006 the University of Washington successfully negotiated the purchase of the Safeco property, which will allow for expansion and relocation of academic space on the campus of administrative units.  The purchase is also expected to enable the University to consolidate in the University District programs and operations that are scattered in leased space throughout downtown Seattle.  On January 31 the UW School of Dentistry submitted a proposal requesting consideration be given to potential space needs for dry lab research

AWARDS AND HONORS

Class of 2006 graduate Lisa Lu, participated in the UW School of Business’ annual Business Plan Competition (December 2006) and was honored with the 5,000 DLA Piper Best Technology Idea for her company, JML BioPharm, for manufacturing and production of chemicals for nuclear medicine, specifically their latest radiopharmaceutical technology which is used for the detection of prostate cancer.  Lisa was part of the "Technology Entrepreneurship Certificate," (TEC) program offered by the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the Business School. The TEC is designed to promote entrepreneurship across campus, making it possible for graduate students in other programs--such as Dentistry--to take the 18-credit entrepreneurship core courses along with MBAs. The center also offers a September BootCamp, which is a quick introduction to entrepreneurship for students who may be interested in the TEC.  Congratulations, Lisa, on taking the initiative and for winning this unique award.

CAMPAIGN UW: CREATING FUTURES (OFFICE OF DEVELOPMENT)

Last fall, Dr. Timothy DeRouen, Associate Dean for Research and Academic Affairs, and his wife Cheryl took advantage of a UW Foundation matching opportunity for faculty and staff to establish the Academic Careers in Oral Health Endowed Fellowship (ACOH).  Dr. DeRouen is keenly aware of the difficulty in recruiting and retaining highly qualified researchers and instructors, since our brightest students are often lured into private practice soon after graduating from dental school.  He believes that providing this fellowship will provide an incentive for pre-doctoral dental students to explore research and teaching opportunities to determine early on if an academic career is right for them.  Dr. DeRouen’s idea resonated with other faculty as well. So far Drs. Joel Berg, Frank Roberts, O. Ross Beirne and Mark Drangsholt have each established their own ACOH endowments, which the UW will match as well dollar-for-dollar.  The doctors agreed to have their endowments work together by consolidating the distributions into one fund, which will provide a significant resource for the School to develop its own future teaching faculty and researchers.  With the UW faculty/staff/retiree program, the UW Foundation is offering the unprecedented opportunity to establish a named endowment that supports students for only $5,000 and the UW will match that gift dollar-for-dollar up to $10,000.  This program is available to full- and part-time faculty and staff, retirees and affiliate faculty.  For more information please contact the Office of Dentistry Development.

A complete list of School of Dentistry events and archived editions of the Dean's Monthly Communications are also available online.

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