Brief History Overview:
The Department of Epidemiology & Health Promotion was created in June 2000. Over the first five years of its existence, the Department faculty have served as PI or co-PI on new grants that total more than $16.5m from a range of national and state agencies. It currently houses the following graduate degree programs: the PhD in Epidemiology program (which is currently in its 12 year of NIH-funding as a T32 training grant); both the Certificate and the MS in Clinical Research programs (which began in 2002); and, the Oral Health Concentration for the MPH in Global Health (which will initiate in the Fall of 2006).

The Faculty Mix and Match
There are 9 full-time and 10 part-time faculty members in the Department. Full-time Faculty, by longevity, at NYU:

Gene Hittelman, PhD, with 32 years at NYU leads didactic teaching of behavioral sciences, especially as related to Health Promotion, leads clinical teaching of Health Promotion in our dental clinics, serves as 'clinical psychologist' as issues arise in clinic

Rima Bachman Sehl, DDS, MPA, with 27 years at NYU Associate Chair of the Department, oversees predoctoral curriculum for the Department and integration of departmental teachings within predoctoral curriculum, teaches Health Promotion, geriatrics, nutrition.

Fred More, DDS, with 15 years at NYU leads teaching of bioethics and diversity in health professions, collaborator on grant with NYU Med School on community health education, collaborator with Tuskegee University's Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care

Gustavo Gruz, DMD, MPH, with 12 years at NYU of Dental Public Health for the College, leads teaching of the Oral Health Concentration in the new MPH in Global Health, is co-PI on R01 from NIH, a Clinical Trial on Smoking Cessation in Dental Offices

Stefanie Russell, DMD, MPH, PhD, with 8 years at NYU teaches oral-systemic disease epidemiology as well as grant critiquing course in the MS in Clinical Research Program, just completed study on relationship between parity and tooth loss/periodontal disease.

Ralph Katz, DMD, MPH, PhD, with 5 years at NYU Chair of the Department with research and research teaching activities in the MS in Clinical Research and the PhD in epidemiology programs

Doug Morse, DDS, SM, PhD, with 4 years at NYU Associate Director of the T32 NYU Oral Epidemiology Comprehensive Training Grant; leads the predoctoral teaching of epidemiology, is PI on major study in NIH-funded NYU Oral Cancer RAAHP Center

Ananda Dasanayake, BDS, MPH, PhD, with 3 years at NYU Director of the MS in Clinical Research Program, teaches extensively in that graduate program, is PI on R01 grant from NIH on Perio Dis and Low Birth Weight

Walter Psoter, DDS, PhD, with 2 years at NYU An epidemiologist with the label of "Mr. Statistics" for the MS in Clinical Research program, is PI on R01 grant from NIH on Effects of Malnutrition on Permanent Tooth Development and Disease in Haitian

Part-Time Faculty:
Both the Director and Associate Director of the College's Waldmann Dental Library are part-time departmental faculty, as is the Director of Dental Informatics for the College of Dentistry. The other part-time faculty serve as key contributors to the teaching of the predoctoral Health Promotion curriculum, and to the MS in Clinical Research program.

Curricula Highlights
The predoctoral curriculum sets the national trend in teaching of health promotion in the predoctoral curriculum, with major clinical components as well as a solid series of foundation didactic and preclinical courses. Similarly, the department's MS in Clinical Research program, begun in 2002, is a unique offering among US dental schools in that we are the only dental school offering an MS in Clinical Research degree. The PhD in Epidemiology program, run in collaboration with Columbia University, Johns Hopkins University and Yale University, is now in its 12 year. The newest offering, the Oral Health Concentration within NYU's MPH in Global Health will initiate recruitment of graduate students in the Fall of 2005 with the first entering class beginning in the Fall of 2006.

Current Research Activity
The Department has had a major commitment to research and scholarly activities since its inception in June 2000. Over its first 5 years of existence, the Department has received over $16.5 million in 16 externally funded grants, most from the NIH, in which Departmental faculty serve as the PI or co-PI of the study. The current research portfolio includes: 1) an NIDCR U54 Oral Health Disparities Center, the NYU Oral Cancer RAAHP* Center (* = Research on Adolescent & Adult Health Promotion); 2) 3 R01 grants from NIH, including a clinical trial on smoking cessation, a clinical study on the relationship between periodontal disease and pre-term, low birth weight, and a study on the relationship between early childhood malnutrition and the development and diseases of the permanent dentition in Haiti; 3) a major collaborative NIH-grant focused on building of a research infrastructure at the University of Puerto Rico's School of Dentistry. In addition, the Department has just entered its third five-year project period for the offering of its NYU Oral Epidemiology Comprehensive T32 NRSA Training Grant, a program that offers the PhD in epidemiology, as well as the MS in Clinical Research. Finally, several Departmental faculty members serve as Research Mentors for clinical faculty at NYU, both in the College of Dentistry and in the School of Medicine.

Service by Faculty: Community, University and Extra-curricular Programs
The Departmental faculty involve themselves in a wide variety of community and University activities that vary year-by-year. Two Departmental faculty run the NYU Spaghetti & Science Society, a monthly student journal club that meets in an Italian restaurant in Greenwich Village to discuss a scientific article over 'a plate of pasta and a glass of wine'. Last year, the a faculty member developed and taught a six week earth sciences module on wind energy vs nuclear energy at the Salk Science School, a NYC magnet science Jr. High School. Another faculty has served as the program officer for a NYC service to bring geriatric dental services to needy New Yorkers, while another serves on several NYC and New York State health boards.

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