Mission
The service mission of the Office of Educational Partnerships (OEP) is to improve the oral health and wellbeing of the people of the local community and the region. The OEP team coordinates outreach programs that are especially attentive to minority and underserved populations. Dental students provide much needed care to communities with lack of access to care and act as teachers and mentors to youth under represented in the health professions. These community engagements have the potential to improve the oral health of underserved communities directly but also increase the number of dentists, educators and leaders within these communities in the long term.
Goals
- To support dental student organizations efforts to plan, implement and maintain community service activities in oral health education and care.
- To develop community partnerships that provide students opportunities for responsible citizenship and leadership in our multicultural society.
- To serve as a UW School of Dentistry liaison in campus wide diversity and service-learning activities.
- To support recruitment and retention of students from under-represented communities in the oral health care workforce and students committed to providing oral health care to underserved communities.
- To support an environment in the dental school that fully welcomes, respects and celebrates diversity in all its forms.
Staff
Amy Kim
Clinical Associate Professor
Associate Director, Regional Initiatives in Dental Education (RIDE)
Dr. Kim managed research programs at the Michigan Center for Oral Health Research and the University of Michigan’s Comprehensive Cancer Center prior to joining the University of Washington. She has also worked in dental private practice and the SMILE program. She has extensive experience in dental education with a focus on admissions and interprofessional education. Her clinical research expertise includes project/program management, regulatory affairs and human subjects protection.
Sarah Lynch
Program Manager
Sarah is originally from Virginia, and graduated from the University of Mary Washington with a degree in Psychology. Unsure what she wanted to next, she moved to the Seattle area as an AmeriCorps member to work in senior housing. After several years in social services, and public health, she is now program manager in OEP. When she is not in the office, she can be found curled up with a good book or out swing dancing on Capitol Hill.
Diversity Statement
The University of Washington School of Dentistry values diversity in race/ethnicity, religion, culture, sexual orientation and socioeconomic status in its students, staff, faculty and patients.
We resolve to promote and maintain an environment that honors and respects the dignity, uniqueness and worth of each person in order to empower each member of our institution to optimally participate in our mission of education, research and service.
We believe that our commitment to diversity within the dental school, and in our interactions with the larger community, is essential to preparing students to become competent and ethical oral health care providers who can interact effectively in our multicultural society. Our commitment to diversity is critical to the mission of the dental school to improve oral health through education, patient care, research and community service.
Nationwide the American Dental Association data in 2011 showed that underrepresented minorities (American Indian, African-American and Hispanic) account for 9.0% of professionally active dentists.