Soros Advocacy Fellowship for Physicians

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Case Studies

Fellowship Partnering Organization: Children's Dental Health Project
Home Institution: Columbia University

The project goal was to improve the oral health of low income and minority children by translating policymaker awareness into action and engaging pediatricians and family practitioners in advocating for children’s oral health. This involved developing and promoting a model for the interface between primary care medicine and primary care dentistry for low income children. It also involved educating physicians about the importance of children’s oral health and advocating for increasing the level of oral-health education in medical education and improving the oral-health skills of practicing pediatricians and other non-dental health professionals. In addition, Krol attempted to create and institute specific opportunities to engage pediatricians and family practitioners to advocate for Medicaid EPSDT and SCHIP dental program improvements.

Fellowship Successes

Dr. Krol delivered the following presentations:

• Periodontal disease and preterm low birthweight: The science. Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs annual conference. Washington, DC. March 2, 2004.
• The pediatrician’s role in children’s oral health. AAP New York Chapter 1 meeting. Syracuse, NY. January 14, 2004.
• Explicating the interfaces between primary care medicine and dentistry for at-risk young children. American Public Health Association Annual Meeting. San Francisco, CA. November 19, 2003.
• The face of a child says a lot of things: Especially the mouth part. Friday Ambulatory Care Teaching Sessions. Montefiore Family Medicine Residency. Bronx, NY, August 22, 2003.
• How should oral health training be incorporated into health professions education? Panel leader. Interfaces Invitational Meeting. Washington, DC. July 28, 2003.
• Translating health services research into pediatric oral health policy (co-authored with B.L. Edelstein and J.J. Crall). 5th Annual Child Health Services Research Meeting. Panel chair and presenter. Nashville, TN. June 26, 2003.
• The interface between primary medical care and primary dental care for children. American Academy of Physician Assistants 31st Annual Conference. New Orleans, LA, May 25, 2003.
• The interface between primary medical care and primary dental care: The role of the pediatrician. American College of Osteopathic Pediatricians Annual Meeting. Bethesda, MD, April 11, 2003.
• Interfaces: Explicating the interfaces between primary care dentistry & medicine for at-risk children. Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs annual conference. Arlington, VA. March 11, 2003.
• Past, present and future: Developing a model oral health training program for family practice and pediatric residents. Primary Care and Oral Health Cooperative Agreement Grantees Conference. Bethesda, MD, February 26, 2003.
• Explicating the interfaces between primary care dentistry and medicine for at-risk young children. 17th National Conference on Chronic Disease Prevention and Control. St. Louis, MO, February 21, 2003.
• Advocate? I barely have enough time to communicate. American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference and Exhibition. Boston , MA , October 20, 2002.

Dr. Krol published the following advocacy letters:

• It's time to examine best approaches to physician-dentist collaboration. Letter to the editor. American Medical News. January 19, 2004.
• Dental debate (co-authored with K.J. Hale). Letter to the editor. Pediatric News. 2003; 37(10): 30.
• Costs of a healthy smile. Letter to the editor. New York Times. August 12, 2003: F4.
• Letter to the Editor. Re: Urban elementary school personnel’s perceptions of student health and student health needs. Ambul Pediatr. 2003; 3(2): 109-110.
• Put teeth in Scituate health plan. Op-ed. Providence Journal. August 31, 2002: B7.

Other activities:

• Represented the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) at the Association of State and Territorial Dental Directors “Future of Dental Public Health Workforce” meeting, February 26-27, 2004.
• Participated in the AAP PedsCare Oral Health workgroup and helped design oral-health training module for pediatricians and family practitioners.
• Helped design the oral-health training module for the Association of Clinicians for the Underserved.