The Departments of Oral Biology and Dental Public Health Sciences merged on July 1, 2011 to create the Department of Oral Health Sciences (OHS).
Faculty expertise in OHS spans a broad range of fields, including molecular biology, microbiology, craniofacial biology, basic and applied behavioral science, dental public health, dental hygiene, clinical research, epidemiology, and biostatistics. The breadth of expertise in OHS facilitates cross-disciplinary collaborations in basic, translational and clinical research.
Graduate programs leading to the MS and PhD degrees in Oral Biology will continue to be offered through OHS, as will the pre-doctoral dental student teaching that each of the former departments had provided prior to the merger. The four degree programs offered through OHS (PhD, DDS/PhD, MS, and MS in Oral Biology for Dental Hygienists) emphasize comprehensive, interdisciplinary training in both the basic biological and clinically-orientated oral health sciences. Faculty within our training program work in four different health sciences schools at UW: Dentistry, Medicine, Engineering and Public Health. The chair of OHS is Dr. Douglas Ramsay, who previously chaired Dental Public Health Sciences.