Welcome
to the UCSF Integrated DDS/PhD program page. This
is an NIH supported Dental Scientist Training Program (DSTP) that
provides
an integrated program combining the DDS program and an advanced
research
experience leading to the PhD degree.
Dentistry's Future
Revolutionary discoveries and
developments
in such diverse fields as molecular biology, biotechnology,
biomaterials,
tissue engineering, and computer science will radically alter how we
diagnose
and treat our dental patients. Will you be excavating dental decay or
placing
dental sealants and composites in 2010? Will you be preventing the
start
of caries with a laser? Will you use risk management and intervention
strategies
or new procedures for regrowing a missing tooth?
Who will translate scientific advances into the dental practice of the
21st Century? The National Institute for Dental Research (NIDR) has
taken
the lead in addressing this challenging question: it believes that
today's
dental students will be the key players in this effort.
To help foster the professional development of new dentists with the
scientific
credentials needed to ask and answer the challenging questions of
dentistry's
future, the NIDR has instituted the Dental Scientist Training Program
(DSTP)
at three universities. As a leading U.S. dental research institution,
UCSF
has been selected to offer this integrated program leading to both the
DDS and PhD degrees.
Our program will attract the best and brightest students from our
highly
talented and carefully selected dental classes. We believe that the
graduates
of our accelerated, intensive training program will be the future
leaders
of dentistry. Have you considered the
possibility
of a career combining scientific inquiry with clinical practice?
The Dental Scientist
Training
Program
The DSTP offers an integrated sequence of
clinical
and research experiences and course work that will prepare you to
answer
these or other compelling questions. If pursued separately, four years
would be required for completion of the DDS curriculum and five or more
for the PhD. However, we have designed the DSTP in such a way that an
outstanding
student should be able to complete both degrees in 7 to 8 years. The
first three years of the program include all the elements of the DDS
program,
with graduate course substitutions where possible because of the
student's
background and research during the summer of the first two years.
In the fourth
year, the DSTP students will commence a pattern of work that can be
considered
full-tirme PhD research training with one day per week of supervised
clinical
experience in a series of environments designed to produce a
well-rounded
clinician as well as a well-trained researcher.
DSTP students will be able to choose their area of research focus from
the offerings of four highly respected PhD programs of the University
of California:
The School of Dentistry's own Graduate Program in Oral and Craniofacial
Sciences which covers
a broad spectrum of oral health science including: molecular, cell, and
developmental biology; biomaterials and bioengineering;
and translational and clinical research
The UCSF program in Bilogical and Medical Informatics (Bioinformatics)
The inter-campus program in Bioengineering which provides training at
both
the San Francisco and Berkeley campuses
The Graduate Program in Epidemiology, offered through the School of
Public
Health at Berkeley
Under the terms of the NIDR training grant, DSTP students will receive
five years of support, including a monthly stipend, payment of most
University
fees, and some funds for travel to scientific meetings and other
research-related
expenses, usually commencing in the second or third year of the program.
