History
On behalf of the organization committee and leadership at the School of Dentistry, we are pleased to announce the launching of the world’s first program in leadership for dental and dental hygiene students in August of 2006! The impetus behind the establishment of the University of Michigan’s Scholars Program in Dental Leadership (UM-SPDL) was the goal of empowering those involved to envision and promote cultural changes in the realm of dentistry. This program was envisioned as one that promotes leadership in dentistry, because effective leaders require a multitude of skills to successfully lead change in complex and diverse situations in a flexible and accommodating manner. It is our hope that participants of the UM-SPDL program will develop an understanding of the interplay between leadership and challenges that are faced by leaders as they develop value-creating opportunities through a set of leadership competencies. For leadership in dentistry will be defined by the participants themselves, whether it is leading a successful practice, policy changes, dental research, or academic dentistry.
This program was created within the mission of the University of Michigan School of Dentistry to promote optimal oral health in a culturally sensitive manner within the state, national, and international communities through education, research and service. To achieve its mission the School of Dentistry will:
- Educate oral health professionals and researchers in a model health care facility where students and clinicians emulate the highest standards of patient-centered care and acquire the most advanced knowledge and skills to meet the changing needs of a diverse patient population.
- Conduct research in the basic, behavioral and clinical sciences, and encourage collaborative efforts for the discovery and application of new knowledge with awareness of multiple environmental and social conditions.
- Serve the University, the community, and the profession through the sharing of knowledge, participation in professional activities, and the establishment of linkages to promote innovation, and to encourage and address diversity in research, education, patient care, and health policy.
Inherent in the mission is a dedication to inspire the development of the students, faculty and staff and to develop attitudes and skills necessary for continued professional growth. To pursue its mission, the School of Dentistry will foster and exemplify equity, diversity, and multicultural value.
Along with goals that pertain to our mission statement, we aspire to move ahead of the curve in dental education. Not only is it important to innovate in research and science, it is imperative that we make similar strides in education. One important initiative that will distinguish our pre-doctoral program is our leadership program.
Our four year curriculum does an excellent job preparing our dental graduates for entry-level positions in clinical dentistry. The current focus is on development of clinical skills and most graduates plan and eventually enter traditional private practice of dentistry. However, the profession increasingly needs bright and talented individuals who can assume leadership positions, as dentists, in many different venues. These avenues may include public service, dental products and devices industry, universities, research organizations, public health organizations, hospitals, large group health care facilities (community health clinics, large group dental practices), insurance industry, and philanthropic organizations. This program will provide a unique opportunity, not available anywhere else in the world, for bright, ambitious and talented dental students with an interest in elevation of the profession. They will have opportunities as leaders in developing novel approaches to health care problems in the US and the world.
Increasingly, solutions to complex problems facing health care and society require complex solutions drawing on expertise and experiences from different disciplines – medicine, nursing, dentistry, law, industry, basic science and social science disciplines, and public policymakers. Leaders in all disciplines will increasingly be called upon to work with others with different perspectives and to create a common solution incorporating the needs and interests of varied parties. Dental leaders will need to learn to work within these complex systems if they are to contribute to these solutions – the Institute of Medicine and Surgeon General’s reports both call for this type of approach to problems in health.
The leadership program came out of a real need that dental educators brought to our attention. We are compelled to implement this program by the fact that though we recruited the brightest and best, there were key components still lacking. We consistently graduate competent and well-trained dentists, but somehow miss the one vital piece that would graduate future leaders in the field of dentistry.
Our program will start the development of future leaders in dentistry by exposing them to different ways of looking at the world, and their communities of influence. The first step will be to turn inward to understand their own values, including life goals, strengths and weaknesses to develop their own individual leadership development plan. The next step is to learn skills necessary for a leader in any profession - communication skills, strategic thinking, team building, negotiation skills, and ethics on both organizational and an interpersonal levels. Externships will be available to broaden our scholars’ horizons and help them identify their interests and goals. These may include time at state/national and international organizations committed to leading change, the Indian Health Service, offices of elected local and national officials to learn the processes of instituting change.
Mentorship is another key component of this program. Our scholars will be connected with prominent leaders in dentistry from many different arenas, and based on their inventoried interests and goals, will self-select a mentor. These mentors will also serve as seminar leaders, presenting interactive presentations on key issues affecting dentistry today and in the future. In this way they will draw out innovation and creativity in our scholars but also serve as role models. The mentors will also provide important on-on-one relationships that hopefully will persist long after our scholars graduate, and continue along their professional and personal development. We anticipate that many of our scholars will desire to return and serve as mentors in the future.
The final component of this program is the Capstone Project where teams of scholars will take a key issue and develop a project addressing this key issue. Issues will have a wide range whether it is access to care for special patients within the city of Ann Arbor, or a bill before the House which will affect the private practice of dentistry (e.g. Fluoridation, or mercury in dental wastewater, or stricter OSHA requirements for air quality, or laws affecting small businesses), or a novel intervention directed at rural youths abusing methamphetamine and raising awareness of the oral manifestations of this problem. These project will be driven by the scholars, who will plan, implement, and assess the project, and apply important leadership and teamwork skills along the way. These projects will take the scholars one step closer to the realization that they can be change leaders, an important phase of development as they enter the profession.