Implementation of Global Health Initiatives into Academics and Global Volunteer Work

In 2016, the Global Oral Health Initiatives Group created a competency-based curriculum for dental students that would cover global health initiatives. This Global Health starter kit has been successfully developed and implemented at Harvard School of Dental Medicine with an adjunct trip to Costa Rica. The intention of this project is to implement Global Health Initiatives into the University of the Pacific’s academic curriculum and give students the opportunity to apply their learnings to their various mission trips. Students will become proficient in these following initiatives: Global trends, Global goals, Basic Primary Care, Social Determinants and Risks, and ethics and sustainability. This course will engage students in global health and raise ethical discussions around mission trips and our role as dental providers in decreasing the global health disease burden