UIC College of Dentistry Creates First PhD Program The University of Illinois at Chicago College of Dentistry has received approval for its first-ever PhD program. After nearly two years of discussions, work, and approvals, the College now offers a PhD in Oral Sciences.
There are several reasons that College faculty and administration thought this was a good time to create the PhD program.
“Throughout the country, universities are short oral science investigators,” said Dr. Phillip T. Marucha, Director of Graduate Studies, and Head of Periodontics. “There are close to 300 dental faculty positions left unfilled around the country because of inadequate numbers of candidates, and that’s especially true for faculty trained in research. This program is designed to train future faculty/researchers in oral health science centers, such as dental schools.”
Besides helping to create new faculty, the program also will create new research.
“If we want to generate new findings that will improve the oral health of people throughout the world, then we need to train individuals who will do that research in the future and who can help dentistry keep up with the dramatic changes in other health disciplines,” Dr. Marucha said.
Along with worldwide and national impact, the new program will have a positive impact on the College as well. It also will help the College fulfill its goal of building up its research infrastructure, for which it received a $3.1 million U24 grant from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research. “In order to recruit and retain faculty in the College, we need to offer them new faculty training venues such as this PhD program,” Dr. Marucha explained.
The new PhD can be done by itself or concurrently with a specialty in dentistry or the DDS degree. Dr. Marucha established another successful dual degree program at The Ohio State University, which now receives support through a National Institutes of Health (NIH) training grant. “It will be good for our students to have the opportunity to enter a DDS/PhD program,” he said. “This can change the culture and raise the bar for all students.
“There are many career paths in dentistry and this offers students a brand new opportunity to not only practice clinical dentistry, but to be part of developing and shaping the future of dentistry,” he noted.
Dr. Marucha feels the new program will create more opportunities for the College to obtain National Institutes of Health Funding. “We expect that most of the people who will participate in this program will be dual-trained in clinical and basic science,” Dr. Marucha said. “This will help address NIH’s mission to increase clinical and translational research.”
The new PhD program also will raise the College’s profile, Dr. Marucha noted, “particularly awareness about our clinical faculty in research. This program is necessary for us to meet our Vision of becoming a top five dental school. There are no top five dental schools without a strong research component, including a PhD program. Top five dental schools train PhDs.”
The program has been approved by the College, UIC Graduate College, University Senate, University of Illinois Board of Trustees, and Illinois Board of Higher Education.
Many of the College faculty wanted such a program, and other University and College administrators and Dean Bruce Graham strongly supported the idea.
Dr. Marucha said, “I was involved in establishing another PhD program at Ohio State University, and I wanted to work on one here, too. Given the culture of increased research at the College, the time was right.”
While College faculty have been involved with other University and outside PhD programs for decades, this is the first PhD program exclusive to the College. It is the only PhD program in Oral Science in Illinois.
The didactic component of the program is intended to be completed in less than two years. The following two to four years of training will concentrate on bench research, presentation skills, writing skills, and other activities related to research. The program is projected to enroll three PhD students the first year, with the possibility of up to 15 by its fifth year of operation.
For more information, contact Dr. Marucha at (312) 413-4467 or e-mail him at
marucha@uic.edu.