Center for Dental Informatics: Postgraduate Program
(Introductory material about the discipline of dental informatics can be found in the JADA and Advances in Dental Research.)
Summary
The postgraduate program offers the following:
- MS and PhD degrees in biomedical informatics (concentration: dental informatics) (details)
- comprehensive didactic curriculum (details)
- completion of 39 (MS) or 72 (PhD) didactic and research credits
- in-depth research training beginning in the first semester
- optional bioinformatics track for dental informatics trainees (details)
- NLM/NIDCR funding for eligible applicants (details)
- educational loan repayment for eligible applicants (details)
- To apply, please visit the application page.
Background
Dental informatics – the application of computer and information sciences to improve dental practice, research, education, and management – is a relatively new field with significant potential for supporting dentistry’s many facets. There exists a dental informatics concentration within the Biomedical Informatics Training Program of the Department of Biomedical Informatics. The program is primarily targeted at individuals engaged in dentistry, medicine, or computer science; however, the program is also open to other individuals with appropriate background and a strong interest in a research career in dental informatics.
The program is based on the premise that more than any other innovation at this time, information technology has the potential to help dentistry realize its vision of improving individual and general oral health systematically and consistently. Advances in integration, miniaturization, and sophistication of computer technology, as well as innovations in digital imaging, signal processing, information and knowledge representation, data visualization, human factors design, and expert systems can fundamentally improve how we deliver dental care. The Postgraduate program is intended to educate researchers and leaders in this new field.
Program
Since the focus of the program is to prepare individuals for a research career, trainees are involved in research from the first day in the program. They work closely with program faculty, both individually and as a group, on research projects. The curriculum that trainees complete covers a wide range of subjects, such as medical information access and retrieval, medical databases, decision theory, machine learning from clinical data, human-computer interaction and evaluation. Dental informatics trainees share a large part of the curriculum with their colleagues from other fields, and obtain their concentration through three courses specific to dental informatics. Since dental informaticians are also typically - at least to some degree - involved in the management of information technology systems, the curriculum provides some course material in this area.The MS option of the program requires the completion of 39 didactic credits, and the preparation and defense of an MS project/thesis. The PhD degree requires the completion of 72 credits, and the preparation and defense of a PhD thesis.
Employment opportunities
Currently, a number of employment opportunities is open
for graduates of dental informatics postgraduate programs.
An increasing number of dental schools have established
or are establishing dental informatics departments, sections,
or positions for faculty with dental informatics experience.
Dental informatics faculty may support a school's use of
information technology in education, develop and teach predoctoral
dental informatics courses, lead or participate in the development
or implementation of computer systems, or engage in specific
research areas.
Secondary employment opportunities include positions within
larger dental care delivery organizations, such as group
practices, IPAs, or HMOs to support the application of computer
technology. Dental software developers, such as dental practice
management system vendors, also require the expertise offered
by dental informatics specialists.
Some recently established or opened positions include (please check with employer for status of positions):
- Dental Informatics Specialist (Marshfield Clinic, Marshfield, WI) (2007)
- Director of Dental Informatics (The University of Iowa's College of Dentistry) (advertised Bulletin of Dental Education, Vol 40, March 2007)
- Director of Informatics (University of Alabama School of Dentistry) (2005)
- Director - Dental Informatics (Marquette University School of Dental Medicine) (Summer 2000)
- Assistant Professor, Department of Dental Informatics (Temple University School of Dentistry)
- Director - Dental Informatics (New York University School of Dentistry)
- Director - Academic Support Services (University of Florida School of Dentistry)
- Associate Director for Dental Informatics (University of Nevada, Las Vegas) (readvertised Bulletin of Dental Education, Vol. 33, Jan. 2000 )
- Director of Informatics (Creighton University School of Dentistry)
As in any new field, however, the employment market in dental informatics is highly variable. Successful placement is highly dependent on the knowledge, skills and experience of graduates, and their ability to perform independent research in academic and other environments.
Faculty
Thirty core and over fifty affiliated faculty members are part of the
Pittsburgh Biomedical
Informatics Training Program. The dental informatics faculty are:
Titus Schleyer, DMD, PhD (University of Pittsburgh,
School of Dental Medicine), is Associate Professor and
Director, Center for Dental Informatics. Dr. Schleyer
began working in health care informatics in the Department
of Medical Informatics at the University of Frankfurt
in 1982. Dr. Schleyer's research interests include computer-based
oral health records, clinical computing systems, distributed
information resources, and image processing and analysis.
Heiko Spallek, DMD, PhD (University of Pittsburgh, School of Dental
Medicine), is Assistant Professor, Center for Dental Informatics. Dr. Spallek
is an expert in the application of Internet-based technologies to dental
education, research, and practice. Dr. Spallek has extensively published
on these subjects.
Thankam Thyvalikakath, MDS, MS (University of Pittsburgh, School of Dental
Medicine), is Assistant Professor in the Center for Dental Informatics. Her current work is focused on clinical applications of dental practice management systems, especially relating to usability and clinical decision-making. Dr. Thyvalikakath is designing novel interfaces for chairside applications as part of a multidisciplinary research team.
Meet our current and former postgraduate students:
Eligibility
To be eligible for financial support by the National Institute of Dental
and Craniofacial Research, applicants must have a DDS/DMD degree and hold
US citizenship or permanent residency status. However, additional training
slots are available for individuals engaged either in dentistry, medicine,
or computer science without the citizenship/residency requirement.
Application
Dental informatics fellowships are available every year. However, the
availability of funding support may vary. To apply for the program, please
follow these steps:
- Contact Dr. Titus Schleyer, the program director, through the attached contact form, or at University of Pittsburgh, School of Dental Medicine, 3501 Terrace St, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, email: titus@pitt.edu, WWW: http://di.dental.pitt.edu/.
- Follow the application procedure described at http://www.cbmi.pitt.edu/trainingprogram/apply.html to apply to the training program.
Please note: To be considered for the fall of an
academic year, applications for the dental informatics program must be
received by the spring of each year. Please follow the instructions
for completing your application exactly as specified on the application
page.
An interinstitutional admissions committee reviews applications and - if applicable -
awards NIDCR/NLM fellowships.
Financial support
Tuition rates set by the University of Pittsburgh School
of Medicine apply (see Tuition
Rates Overview for current rates). Financial support
through fellowships sponsored by the National
Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (administered
through the National Library
of Medicine) is available. For more information,
please review the overview of financial
support.
For a separate overview of program costs see http://www.ir.pitt.edu/tuition/. Refer to School of Medicine Graduate Studies rates.
Dental Informatics Program Contact Form
Please remit this form electronically (Please
note: This form is not an application!):