Faculty
Ralph Katz
Ralph Katz, D.M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D., Professor and Chair of the Department of Epidemiology & Health Promotion at the NYU College of Dentistry, has been an academic oral epidemiologist since 1976. He is currently (2001-2008) the Director of the NYU Oral Cancer RAAHP* Center, an NIDCR/NIH Oral Health Disparities Center. Over the past thirty years, his research interests have focused on epidemiologic studies of oral disease. His research projects have ranged from dental caries in children and older adults, to clinical trials on chemotherapeutic control of periodontal diseases, descriptive epidemiologic studies of TMJ disorders in adults and in children, descriptive and time-trend studies of oral cancers, analytic epidemiologic studies of fluorosis, and experimental epidemiologic studies on chemotherapeutic management of precancerous oral lesions. Dr Katz' methodologic research interests have ranged from the development of a root caries index, to the testing of instruments for the clinical detection of root caries, the development of an epidemiologic monitoring system for oral disease in adults, and, most recently, issues related to questionnaire design.
Dr. Katz began his international research in Bermuda in the late 1970's with a 5 year WHO/PAHO demonstration program conducted in response to a request from the government of Bermuda to address an escalating island-wide dental caries problem in children. Via an instituted island-wide fluoride tablet program through the primary and secondary schools, the dental caries incidence was greatly reduced over a ten year period. Since 1988, Dr. Katz has been actively involved in oral health research in Haiti. In 1997, he trained dental faculty from the University of Haiti to conduct descriptive and cross-sectional epidemiologic studies which led directly to the conducting of the 1st National Oral Health Study of School Children in Haiti , funded by WHO/PAHO. Currently, Dr. Katz is a member of a research team composed of NYU faculty, University of Haiti faculty and staff from the Haitian Health Foundation (an NGO in the Jeremie region of Haiti) working in an NIH-funded multi-year study of the effects of early childhood malnutrition on the development and diseases of the permanent dentition.
Dr. Katz currently teaches epidemiology and skills in reading the professional literature to dental students, as well as grant writing and a Virtual Clinical Trial courses in the M.S. in Clinical Research Program. He also teaches a Freshman Honors Seminar Course in the NYU College of Arts and Science (Ethics, Pointillism, Epidemiology and Epistemology: EPEE Dueling with Health Science Information). Beginning in 2006, he will also teach two courses in NYU's newly developed MPH in Global Health Program, one on the 50 Years of History and Debates on Water Fluoridation, and one on WIMSE** in Public Health.
* Research on Adolescent and Adult Health Promotion ** Well Intentioned Mistakes, Screw-ups and Errors