The Missouri Foundation for Health has awarded a $1.5 million grant to A.T. Still University (ATSU) to develop its new dental school in Kirksville, MO.
The foundation has already provided $1.5 million since 2011 to assist the university with the initial planning and development phases, according to a press release. ATSU plans to open its Missouri School of Dentistry and Oral Health (ATSU-MOSDOH) with its first class of 42 students in the fall of 2013, pending accreditation.
The new school's goal is to producing a new generation of community-minded dentists who will help fill widespread oral healthcare workforce gaps in rural and urban communities, specifically in safety-net settings for underserved patients. The curriculum includes a focus on public health.
ATSU's four-year dental curriculum in Missouri will include two years of preclinical, interdisciplinary oral health education on the university's Kirksville campus in a new 62,000-sq-ft, $26 million educational facility that is slated for completion in June. The final two clinical education years will be in cooperation with Grace Hill Health Centers in St. Louis via a new 50,000-sq-ft, $23 million clinic and collaborating community health center partner sites throughout Missouri.
During the third and fourth academic years, dental students will also work in community-based clinics to provide care to disadvantaged populations.
Graduates will earn a Doctor of Dental Medicine (DMD) degree plus a certificate (or optional master's degree) in public health, the latter in cooperation with ATSU's online School of Health Management.
ATSU-MOSDOH will be the second dental school in Missouri.
