Bulletin of Dental Education Article

CareQuest Institute for Oral Health^® recently awarded the CareQuest Institute Scholarship at the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine (Penn Dental Medicine), designated for a student within Penn Dental Medicine’s Master of Science in Oral and Population Health (MOPH) program. The scholarship awards $45,000 annually for two years.

“This generous support from CareQuest Institute plays an integral role in helping us attract and develop leaders who can inform, develop, implement and evaluate policies that address current and future challenges in oral health,” says Michael Glick, D.M.D., Executive Director of the Penn Dental Medicine’s Center for Integrative Global Oral Health (CIGOH), which welcomed its first cohort of MOPH students in the 2023-24 academic year.

The two-year, online MOPH program covers a variety of disciplines in creating, synthesizing and disseminating evidence to inform clinical practice and policies at all levels of the health care system. Through elective courses, students can develop a curriculum of their preference in one of three streams—oral and population health research; health services research, management, and policy in oral health; and community and population-based oral health promotion.

The MOPH program is among the dual-degree opportunities, which run concurrent with students’ dental school education, available to Penn Dental Medicine predoctoral candidates. The CareQuest Institute Scholarship at Penn Dental Medicine was open to such dual-degree students, with second-year student Christopher Oshana selected as the scholarship awardee.

“We are deeply committed to addressing systemic barriers in oral health, and our future dental professionals will play a vital role in meeting these complex challenges,” said Patricia Ma, Esq., Chief Legal Officer, Executive Vice President at CareQuest Institute for Oral Health. “By supporting students like Christopher through the Master of Science in Oral and Population Health program, we are investing in the next generation of leaders to drive meaningful change and improve access to oral health care for underserved communities.”

Mr. Oshana, who began the MOPH program this academic year, has a strong interest in serving underserved populations. He is a National Health Service Corps (NHSC) scholar and will have a three-year service period with the NHSC after graduation.

“My desire to join the MOPH program goes hand-in-hand with my National Health Service Corps involvement. Completing the MOPH program will give me the tools to propose, implement and evaluate programming that may alleviate my patients’ access to care,” says Mr. Oshana, who in addition to clinical dentistry is interested in teaching and advocacy work. “With the generous support of this scholarship, a MOPH degree will allow me to possibly enter a career in academia, public health policy or organized dentistry and train me as a future agent of change in dentistry.”

About CareQuest Institute for Oral Health^®
CareQuest Institute for Oral Health^® is a national nonprofit championing a more equitable future where every person can reach their full potential through excellent health. We do this through our work in philanthropy, analytics and data insights, health transformation, policy and advocacy, and education as well as our leadership in dental benefits and innovation advancements. We collaborate with thought leaders, health care providers, patients, and local, state, and federal stakeholders, to accelerate oral health care transformation and create a system designed for everyone. To learn more, visit carequest.org and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.

Center for Integrative Global Oral Health (CIGOH)

Penn Dental Medicine’s first policy center, CIGOH seeks creative solutions to address unmet oral health needs by providing critical infrastructure to develop and test effective interventions and policy at both the individual and health-system level. The Center conducts groundbreaking research on topics of integrative oral health, including implementation science, disease prevention, care delivery systems, and cost reduction. Within CIGOH, the Cochrane Oral Health Collaborating Center at Penn Dental Medicine engages researchers from around the globe in systematic reviews summarizing of the best available evidence on oral health topics to help clinicians, policymakers, patients and caregivers make well-informed decisions.

Courtesy of University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine