> Academic Programs > PhD Program in Epidemiology

PhD Program in Epidemiology

Program Description
The NYU Oral Epidemiology Postdoctoral Training Program, now in its sixteenth year of existence as an NIH NRSA-funded program, trains dentists for academic/research careers as oral epidemiologists. NYU Oral Epidemiologic Fellows will be concurrently enrolled as doctoral (Ph.D.) graduate students in epidemiology either at Columbia University, Yale University, or Johns Hopkins University. The program typically requires five years for completion with the majority of the first two years occupied by formal course work at either Columbia or Johns Hopkins Universities. During the final three years, the five oral epidemiologic faculty members at NYU will mentor the Fellows as they conduct and complete their thesis research as well as complete research courses, research skill rotations, research field experiences, and pedagogical training experiences at the NYU College of Dentistry.

The goal of the NYU Oral Epidemiology Postdoctoral Training Program is to provide its Fellows with four distinct outcomes which, when combined, define oral epidemiologists who are fully capable of meeting the high goals set in the NIDR Long-Range Research Plan for the Nineties, “Broadening the Scope”: (1) a Ph.D. in epidemiology; (2) oral epidemiologic research skills and experiences across an array of oral disease topics utilizing a broad spectrum of epidemiologic research designs; (3) a working definition of “oral epidemiologist” that fully incorporates the responsibility for collaborative research and consultation; and (4) communication skills, attitudinal awareness, and working experiences essential for the successful fulfillment of collaboration and consultation responsibilities in their future careers.

The NYU Oral Epidemiology Postdoctoral Training Program is exceptionally well-qualified to train oral epidemiologists given that (1) the NYU director and associate director of the program have a combined total of 40 years experience in administrating and teaching in NIDR NRSA postdoctoral training programs with 32 of those years of experience focused on the training of oral epidemiologists; (2) NYU has five Ph.D.-level trained oral epidemiologists on faculty; (3) NYU has a highly active research program in oral epidemiology; and (4) NYU has an active, established, and highly successful collaborative institutional relationship with the epidemiology faculty at Columbia, Yale, and Johns Hopkins Universities for the doctoral training of oral epidemiologists.

Didactic Program
All Postdoctoral Fellows spend the first two years in this full-time, five-year program as graduate students on the campus of either Columbia University or Johns Hopkins University. During these first two years, Postdoctoral Fellows complete the didactic course work and typically take the Comprehensive Doctoral Examinations at the completion of the second year of course work.

Research Program
Over the 16-year history of this Ph.D. in epidemiology training program, Postdoctoral Fellows have conducted their Ph.D. dissertation research over a wide array of oral health topics. Postdoctoral Fellows spend the final three years of their training program focused on research activities, including the planning and conducting of their thesis research and the submission of grants. Examples of Postdoctoral Fellows Ph.D. thesis topics including the following:

• An Analytical Epidemiologic Study of the Association Between Enamel Fluorosis and a History of Fluoride Supplementation, Infant Formula Ingestion, and Fluoride Dentifrice Use by Young Children
• Relationship Between Multivitamin/Folic Acid Dietary Intake and the Occurrence of Oral Clefts
• Risk Factors for Oral Epithelial Dysplasia
• Progression of Periodontal Disease over 20 Years: Time-Trend Analyses of Sri Lanka Tea Workers
• Oral Cancer Comorbidities
• Patterns of Dental Caries in Early Childhood
• Retrospective Study of Dental Caries in Sickle Cell Disease Subjects vs. Matched Control Subjects
• Retrospective Study of the Relationship Between Tooth Loss and Past Pregnancies

Clinical Program
There is no clinical component in the research-oriented Ph.D. training program. Given the intense nature of this training program, concurrent dual training in dental specialties is not permitted during this five-year pathway.

Accreditation Status
The Ph.D. degree is awarded by the graduate schools associated with the Departments of Epidemiology at Columbia University or Johns Hopkins University, respectively. Both of these graduate schools are fully accredited and, in fact, are among the most highly regarded epidemiology graduate programs in the United States.

Length of the Program
First-year Postdoctoral Fellows typically begin their academic year in June at NYU, spending the first summer at NYU prior to the initiation of their fall semester course work at either Columbia or Johns Hopkins University in the following September.

Director
Ralph V. Katz, D.M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D., Professor of Epidemiology and Health Promotion and Diagnostic Science and Urgent Care and Oral Medicine; Chair, Department of Epidemiology and Health Promotion

Associate Director: Douglas E. Morse, D.D.S., M.S., Ph.D., Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Health Promotion

Admission
The candidate selection process has several steps. In the first step, an interested candidate submits a full set of application documents to the director of the NYU Oral Epidemiology Postdoctoral Training Program. After reviewing the documents, the NYU oral epidemiology faculty decide if the candidate has the qualifications to be interviewed at NYU. Following a favorable interview in which the candidate is judged to be “an acceptable candidate,” the candidate then applies directly to the Department of Epidemiology, either at Columbia or Johns Hopkins University where an independent admissions review of the candidate’s credential occurs. If this latter review is favorable, the candidate is offered admission to the respective department as a graduate student. The final step in this process is taken by the NYU oral epidemiology faculty who then make the final selection of individuals for the available Postdoctoral Fellowships from among all candidates who were judged to be acceptable both to the NYU oral epidemiology faculty in the first step and then were accepted for graduate school admission by either Columbia or Johns Hopkins University.

Application
For the NYU oral epidemiology faculty review, the candidate application materials include college and dental school transcripts, transcripts of any other post-high school academic programs, U.S. National Dental Board scores, proof of citizenship or permanent residency status, three letters of recommendation, and the candidate’s own personal letter of career interests. The faculty review the entire set of materials, as well as the impressions gained via the interview, for evidence of past history of high-quality performance and for predictors that indicate the candidate is likely to be successful in an academic/research career in oral epidemiology. Columbia, Yale, and Johns Hopkins Universities follow their usual graduate student admissions processes and departmental criteria to determine whether the applicant is qualified to become a graduate student in their program.

All admissions materials related to the Ph.D. in Epidemiology Postdoctoral Program should be mailed to Dr. Ralph V. Katz, Professor and Chair, Department of Epidemiology and Health Promotion, NYU College of Dentistry, 250 Park Avenue South, New York, NY, 10003. Inquiries about the program should be made by telephone contact with Dr. Katz (212-998-9550) or e-mailed to ralph.katz@nyu.edu. The fax number for this program is 212-995-4436.