The UCSF School of Dentistry was recently awarded a grant for $1.4 million from the US Department of Health and Human Services to continue and expand its successful outreach programs.
The grant is a direct result of the school's history of successful recruitment and retention of students from disadvantaged backgrounds, including those from underrepresented minorities. The federal grant, paid over a three-year period, funds educational training programs targeting students from middle school to postgraduate education.
"This funding will help us focus more attention on middle and high school students in the city of San Francisco," said Charles J. Alexander, PhD, program director and associate dean for Student Affairs. "It will also allow us to establish a summer school environment with a focus on math and science for disadvantaged students who attend targeted high schools in the San Francisco Unified School District."
The compelling national need to improve access to general health and oral health care, cited in the US Surgeon General's Report in 2000, makes it extremely important to increase dental career opportunities for underrepresented minorities, according to Alexander. In California, the shortage of minority and disadvantaged dental personnel is comparable to the shortage experienced in the nation as a whole. For example, there are approximately 24,500 practicing dentists in California. Less than 6 percent are from underrepresented minority groups, and most of these minority dentists are clustered in the urban areas of Southern California.
"There is a tremendous need to increase the number of dentists from underrepresented minority groups," Alexander said. "The training of health professionals from all segments of society is also essential for the delivery of culturally competent quality health care to all Americans."
Numerous Programs Supported
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| Charles Alexander |
The grant will support a comprehensive approach to provide career awareness and academic enrichment to assist disadvantaged and underrepresented minority students compete for spots in dental schools. The program will collaborate with four San Francisco high schools (Philip and Sal Burton, Thurgood Marshal, Mission, and John O'Connell), four universities (UC Berkeley, San Francisco State University, University of San Francisco, and San Francisco City College) and a community-based organization (The San Francisco Boys and Girls Club). Each educational partner has committed resources and staff to assist in the implementation and execution of the program.
The program will collaborate with each partner to provide recruitment activities, preliminary education during the academic year and summer, financial aid information, pre-entry activities, and counseling and mentoring services to develop a more competitive applicant pool of students. Currently the activities and programs of the UCSF Dental Careers Program affect more than 1,000 disadvantaged students annually. UCSF School of Dentistry's Undergraduate Mentorship and Post-Baccalaureate Programs have been cited as model programs. Both have been very successful with recruiting and enrolling more disadvantaged and underrepresented minorities into dental schools, including UCSF.
Major activities of the UCSF-Dental Careers Program are the following:
• Targeting high schools and colleges with high concentrations of disadvantaged students for career presentations; hosting career day programs for partnership high school and college students; mailings targeted area high schools and colleges; and providing observation experiences for partnership high school students through a mentorship program. UCSF School of Dentistry staff will conduct year-round recruitment activities.
• Providing a year-round post-baccalaureate program for 15 to 20 disadvantaged undergraduate students to participate in an intensive 8-week summer Dental Admission Test (DAT) review and study skills assessment. Students will enroll in upper division science courses during the academic year and participate in seminars, clerkships and observational experiences at community dental clinics. Offering facilitation services (application assistance, interview workshops, counseling, DAT review, and financial aid information) for students enrolled at
targeted universities and colleges.
• Providing academic assistance and counseling support for disadvantaged
students enrolled in each first-year dental class. Tutoring will be available
to targeted students and scheduled at least twice weekly during the academic year. Academic, financial aid and personal counseling will also be provided. Academic progress will be monitored using a formal reporting system consisting of student progress reports from faculty.
• Recruiting and enrolling 30 disadvantaged students from four partnership
high schools to participate in a six-week summer enrichment program
designed to increase proficiency in math and chemistry. Students will
participate in skill-building seminars designed to improve study skills,
reading comprehension, test taking and note taking skills. Students will also participate in career exploration, clinical mentorships, research experiences, and attend presentations by practicing health professionals.
• Recruiting 30 disadvantaged students to participate in an eight-week summer enrichment program (Undergraduate Mentorship Program) designed to strengthen their basic science (biology and chemistry) background, and exposure to clinical dentistry and research. Students will also participate in seminars designed to improve study habits, reading comprehension, stress management, test and note taking skills, and career explorations.
"The concept of the Dental Careers Program," Alexander says, "is not to stifle
creativity, but to reward it."
For more information about the UCSF School of Dentistry Dental Careers Program, please call or email
Charles J. Alexander, PhD, 415/476-1323.
Source: UCSF School of Dentistry
Links:
UCSF School of Dentistry
