Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
Contact: Tamara Cannon, CCHP |
New Dental School Initiative Seeks to Enhance Diversity of Dental Work Force and to Provide More Care to Underserved Patients in California
New York, March 13, 2003 – The California Endowment recently approved a $6.3 million grant to fund up to four California dental schools to increase the enrollment of minority and low-income students. The project also aims to improve access to dental care for underserved populations through dental resident and student rotations in community clinics and practices that provide care to disadvantaged patients.
In 2000, less than five percent of California dental students were African-American, Hispanic, or Native American, and only eight percent of California dentists are from these minority communities. The May 2000 Oral Health in America: A Report of the Surgeon General, points out the need to increase the diversity of the dental workforce and links this to improving the health of minority populations.
Currently, California has 68 dental health professional shortage areas, many in rural areas of the State. Along with financial and administrative limitations in public and private insurance programs, these access problems are the primary reasons for the low percentage of California Medi-Cal eligible children who visit the dentist annually.
To address these workforce and access issues, California dental schools that receive support from The Endowment will participate in Pipeline, Profession & Practice: Community-Based Dental Education, a nationwide, 11 school initiative started by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in September 2002. Dental schools eligible to apply for these $1.3 million grants are Loma Linda University, University of the Pacific, University of California at Los Angeles, and University of Southern California. The University of California at San Francisco School of Dentistry is one of the 11 schools in The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s $19 million “Dental Pipeline” project.
“It is critical for one of the nation’s most diverse states to have an equally diverse health care work force. We are pleased to join forces with The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in this important endeavor, and look forward to increasing the number of minority and low-income students enrolled in California dental schools,” said Jai Lee Wong, senior program officer for The Endowment.
“What a tremendous opportunity for The California Endowment and The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, to mesh our individual philanthropic efforts into a focused area of concern,” added Judith S. Stavisky, MPH, M.Ed., senior program officer at The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
The “Dental Pipeline” program office is based at Columbia University’s Center for Community Health Partnerships under the direction of Allan Formicola, D.D.S., M.S. at Columbia and Howard Bailit, D.M.D., Ph.D. from the University of Connecticut Health Center and Hartford Hospital. Kim D’Abreu Herbert, M.P.H., also at Columbia, serves as the program’s Deputy Director.
“Since there is such a limited pool of minority and low-income dental school applicants, it will be critical for all of the “Dental Pipeline” schools to work collaboratively; not only to increase their minority recruitment and enrollment efforts, but also to review policies affecting dental education and the attractiveness of the dental profession to underrepresented students,” said Dr. Formicola.
Dr. Bailit stated that “outreach by dental schools to underserved communities has a two-fold purpose: it provides more care to disadvantaged patients and gives dental students and residents experience in caring for a diverse group of patients in community settings.”
The Center for Community Health Partnerships is a resource center than enables physicians, dentists, nurses, and public health professionals at Columbia University to collaborate with community-based organization on projects that reduce health care disparities.
The California Endowment was established in 1996 to expand access to affordable, quality health care for underserved individuals and communities, and to promote fundamental improvements in the health status of all Californians. The Endowment has regional offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, Fresno and San Diego with Program staff working throughout the state. The Endowment makes grants to organizations and institutions that directly benefit the health and well-being of the people of California. For more information, visit their Web site at www.calendow.org
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