ATSU Mo. dental program closer to launch with new hire

A.T. Still University (ATSU) has appointed Wayne Cottam, DMD, MS, as vice dean of the Missouri dental program. Dr. Cottam will lead the implementation of the new dental program and is slated to begin his new duties immediately, the university announced.

Dr. Cottam earned his doctor of dental medicine degree from Oregon Health Sciences University. He completed an advanced education residency program in general dentistry at University of Utah Hospital in Salt Lake City and also earned a master of science degree in medical biology from the University of Utah. Prior to assuming his new position as vice dean, he served as ASDOH's associate dean for community partnerships since 2005.

Officially, the new dental program will be a "distant site" of the ATSU-Arizona School of Dentistry and Oral Health (ASDOH) and will be called ASDOH-Missouri. This terminology is required by the Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA). Students will spend the first two years of the program on campus in Kirksville, then split up to rotate to four community health centers in Missouri, including one in Kirksville run by the Northeast Missouri Health Council, in their third and fourth years, where they will receive clinical training under the supervision of ASDOH-Missouri faculty.

ATSU President Jack Magruder noted that capital requests must be approved by the ATSU Board of Trustees and that the program must achieve accreditation from CODA and the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association. These steps will be taken as Dr. Cottam continues to move the project forward.

If capital requests are approved by the ATSU board to proceed with construction of a building on the ATSU Kirksville campus and the program receives accreditation, the first group of students will enter the program in fall 2013 and graduate in May 2017. The university anticipates that the size of the first class will be between 40 and 45 students, with the possibility of future expansion. When fully operational, the new dental program is anticipated to have an economic impact in the Kirksville area of more than $40 million.