DDS / PhD Degree Program

The UCSF integrated DDS/PhD program is one track of our NIH-sponsored Comprehensive Oral Health Training Program (COHORT). Beginning with the academic year 2004-2005, the UCSF School of Dentistry has created two exclusive and additional admissions slots for students electing to enroll in this federally sponsored DDS/PhD program. It is a program designed for those students who are seeking to become the leading scientific investigators of tomorrow.

Revolutionary discoveries and developments in such diverse fields as molecular biology, biotechnology, biomaterials, tissue engineering, and computer science will radically alter how we will diagnose and treat patients. In addition, there is an acute shortage of dental school faculty across the country, a scenario that is worsening each year. To deal with these and many other unforeseen changes in the profession, we need to develop a significant number of clinically trained scientists and scientifically trained clinicians. The program seeks to do this by integrating the UCSF DDS program and one of four PhD Options: Oral and Craniofacial Sciences, Bioengineering, Bioinformatics or Epidemiology.

The program lasts a minimum of eight years, and fully integrates both the DDS and PhD programs in two phases. In phase one, which lasts three years, students pursue the traditional DDS curriculum while performing summer research and lab rotations. In phase two, which lasts at least five years, students spend 20 percent of their time on clinical work, and 80 percent on PhD work (i.e., research). This second phase begins upon completion of the DDS program, and is intended to establish a parallel pattern of clinical and academic work that is similar to those followed by many young dentist-scientist faculty members. There are some funds available to support dual training.