Penn Dental Medicine Collaborates with NASEM on Oral Health Education Workshop
Philadelphia – Penn Dental Medicine collaborated with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) on organizing a workshop convened by NASEM’s Innovation in Health Professional Education (IHPE) Global Forum. The workshop, titled Sharing Models of Whole-Person Oral Health Education, was presented at Penn Dental Medicine, February 15-16.
The workshop focused on learning and sharing ideas on ways to improve the lives of persons with mental and physical disabilities by preventing oral disease and promoting overall health and wellbeing. The topics addressed included prevention; compassionate, cost-effective care for persons with disabilities; and interprofessional oral health education.
“It was a pleasure and honor to have Penn Dental Medicine participate with NASEM on bringing thought leaders together on this important topic,” says Penn Dental Medicine’s Morton Amsterdam Dean, Dr. Mark S. Wolff, who served on the Planning Committee for the workshop and moderated a panel on case examples demonstrating the value proposition of serving individuals with disabilities. “We hope through these discussions to strengthen collaborations and move new ideas for oral healthcare delivery and finance forward across multiple sectors.”
In addition to Dean Wolff, other Penn Dental Medicine faculty participating in workshop included Dr. Michael Glick, Fields-Rayant Endowed Professor and Executive Director of the School’s Center for Integrative Global Oral Health (CIGOH), and Dr. Julian Fisher, Director of Oral and Planetary Health Policies within CIGOH, who both served as consultants to the Planning Committee. Dr. Glick also presented on the topic of “The Whole Health Home” as part of a session on “Fitting the Value Proposition into the Larger Picture.”
“This meeting created a wonderful opportunity to engage with people willing to share and challenge the status quo in order to move the value proposition of oral health forward,” says Dr. Glick.
Several other faculty members and students took advantage of both attending and participating in various workshops.
In addition to those in attendance at Penn Dental Medicine for the conference and workshops, there were more than 600 virtual attendees throughout the entire two days. The webcast and presentations from the workshop will be archived and available on the IHPE Global Forum website in the coming weeks. The IHPE Global Forum is an ongoing, convening activity of the NASEM that brings together diverse stakeholders to network, discuss, and illuminate issues for the benefit and promotion of health professional education. Drs. Glick and Fisher also participated in a related IHPE Global Forum workshop in 2022 titled “Sharing and Exchanging Ideas and Global Experiences on Community-engaged Approaches to Oral Health.”