Faculty

Gustavo Cruz
D.M.D. University of Puerto Rico
M.P.H. Columbia University School of Public Health

"After several years in private practice in an underserved, immigrant community, I decided that, by studying public health, I could help not only individuals but the community as a whole," says Dr. Gustavo Cruz.

Dr. Cruz received his dental degree (D.M.D.) from the University of Puerto Rico and his M.P.H. degree from the Columbia University School of Public Health. Dr. Cruz was Associate Director of the Northeast Research Center for Minority Oral Health (NRCMOH) at New York University College of Dentistry during 1997-2000. As such he was responsible for the recruitment of over 4,000 participants from eight race/ethnic groups into a study of the epidemiology of "Oral Health of Minority Adults in New York City". In 2001, Dr. Cruz was appointed Assistant Professor and Director of Public Health and Health Promotion in the Department of Epidemiology and Health Promotion in the NYU College of Dentistry. Most recently, Dr. Cruz was the Principal Investigator of a study on the oral health of Haitian immigrants in New York City and Principal Investigator of an NIDCR grant for the "Closing the Gap in Oral Health Disparities among Hispanics" national conference, co-Principal Investigator of the NIH funded study "Personalized Risk Feedback in Dental Clinic Smokers" in collaboration with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and the Phase I of the NYS Model for Oral Cancer Prevention and Early Detection. Currently he is the Principal Investigator of an NIH funded study entitled "Effects of Immigration on Oral Health: A Comparative Study" investigating the relationship of ethnicity, immigrant status and other factors among immigrants from seven ethnic groups in New York City. Dr. Cruz has lectured and published widely on oral health care issues of immigrants to the US, tobacco cessation counseling among health care professionals, oral cancer prevention and control and determinants of oral health disparities in the US. He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Dental Public Health and since 2007, Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Health Promotion in the College of Dentistry. "There is nothing like the satisfaction of working towards the betterment of the health of the public and feel you are making a difference" says Dr. Cruz.