This program prepares residents to become board certified by the American Board of Dental Public Health and for careers in public health. Dentists with a Master in Public Health (MPH) or equivalent degree can enroll in a 12-month full-time, supervised program of field experiences, academic courses, and opportunities for practical experience.
Academic courses and field experiences will prepare you for the planning, implementation and operation of dental public health programs, and provide you with an understanding of the processes through which health policies are developed and regulated. In addition, you will gain the technical skills needed to:
- Manage oral health programs for population health
- Demonstrate ethical decision-making in the practice of dental public health
- Evaluate systems of care that impact oral health
- Design surveillance systems to measure oral health status and its Determinants
- Communicate on oral and public health issues
- Lead collaborations on oral and public health issues
- Advocate for public health policy, legislation, and regulations to protect and promote the public’s oral health, and overall health
- Critically appraise evidence to address oral health issues for individuals and populations
- Conduct research to address oral and public health problems
- Integrate the social determinants of health into dental public health practice
The activities of the dental public health residency are uniquely adapted to your prior experience and interests, with the educational plan being reviewed on a regular basis and modified as needed. A nontraditional residency track can be tailored for individual needs.
The dental public health residency is accredited and prepares you to become board certified by the American Board of Dental Public Health. Completion of this program does not qualify trainees to become licensed to practice in California. During the UCSF DPH program, limited support for travel to attend professional meetings may be available for U.S. citizens and permanent residents.
Dentists interested in dental public health also have the option of participating in the UC Berkeley MPH/UCSF Dental Public Health Certificate Joint Program, launched in July 2017. Prospective students must apply separately to the one-year Interdisciplinary Master of Public Health (MPH) program at UC Berkeley.
Dentists who do not yet have an MPH degree, but are interested in completing the Dental Public Health residency, may consider applying to the UC Berkeley-UCSF joint program. Students spend one year at UC Berkeley in full-time coursework, which culminates in the MPH degree. Following completion of the MPH, students transition to the UCSF DPH program.
A core component of the program is original research. Integration of the two programs will allow you to jump-start the two oral health-focused research projects that are required for the DPH program by leveraging your MPH research project. Research opportunities abound through faculty and a network of dental public health professionals.
Details on the UC Berkeley Interdisciplinary MPH program, course content of which shall include biostatistics, epidemiology, health care policy and management; environmental health; and behavioral sciences, are available at https://publichealth.berkeley.edu/academics/interdisciplinary/interdisciplinary-mph/
