The Missouri Foundation for Health (MFH) will provide an initial $500,000 grant to A.T. Still University (ATSU) to help the university plan and develop a new and innovative dental branch program in Kirksville, MO.
Approximately $2.5 million in additional MFH funding has been requested by ATSU for its subsequent 2012 developmental/start-up phase and 2013 launch/implementation phase, contingent upon successful completion of the initial planning and development phase.
ATSU expects to open its Missouri dental program with its first class of 40 to 50 students in fall 2013, the university said in a press release.
The four-year Missouri dental curriculum is being modeled after the program at ATSU's Arizona School of Dentistry & Oral Health. The goal of the Missouri-based dental program is to educate and produce a new generation of community-minded dentists who will help fill oral health workforce gaps, including in community health centers across the state, the university noted.
"Adding the dental program to our ATSU Kirksville campus will not only enhance interprofessional education in our state, but provide meaningful oral health outcomes, especially among Missouri's most vulnerable populations," said Jack Magruder, ATSU president.
Beginning with the announcement of a feasibility study last September, the proposed plan to create a dental program on ATSU's Kirksville campus has received widespread support, the university noted. A group of local citizens formed the Community Friends for ATSU Dental committee last fall, and in four months raised more than $1.1 million in gifts and pledges for the dental program from local individual donors, businesses, and organizations.
