Increasing Racial Diversity in Dental Education Programs

The American Dental Education Association (ADEA) has initiated a study aimed at increasing racial diversity in the dental workforce. Based on a successful medical model that has increased the enrollment of underrepresented minority students, the ADEA is designing model programs to recruit underrepresented minority students from high school into a seven-year dental education program. Models are being developed and tested in New York, Georgia, and New Mexico, where leaders from the Columbia University College of Dental Medicine, the University of New Mexico, and the Atlanta University Center working with the Medical College of Georgia School of Dentistry are developing local plans. Richard Valachovic, D.M.D., M.P.H., Executive Director of the American Dental Education Association is principal investigator of the study. The Macy Foundation awarded a grant of $550,457 for the 18-month project to be completed July 2009.