Assistant/Associate/Professor, Department of General Practice, School of Dentistry

Mission or Goal of Unit:

The Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) School of Dentistry is located in downtown Richmond, Virginia. With a 132-year history, Virginia’s only dental school provides opportunities for selected, qualified individuals to study dentistry and oral health through a Doctor of Dental Surgery (D.D.S) program, graduate specialty training programs and a dental hygiene program. The VCU School of Dentistry is one of a small number of dental schools in the country affiliated with an academic medical center, the only dental school in the Commonwealth, and one of the oldest dental schools in the United States founded in 1893. It is one of five health sciences academic programs on the Medical College of Virginia (MCV) Campus of VCU.

Chief Purpose of this position:

VCU School of Dentistry seeks a compassionate and skilled full-time faculty member to provide teaching, research, scholarly activities, and patient care for individuals with special healthcare needs. The ideal candidate will have experience working with patients who require additional support due to physical, intellectual, developmental, or emotional challenges. This faculty position will provide didactic and clinical teaching and mentoring to dental students, dental hygiene students, and residents. Participation in intramural faculty practice is encouraged. Expectations include clinical and didactic instruction, course directorship, curriculum development, scholarly activity, mentoring, and patient care. This role requires a dedicated professional passionate about delivering high-quality dental care in a compassionate, understanding, and patient-centered environment. This crucial role will have a direct patient care mission.

Position Responsibilities:

Teaching:

Responsibilities include clinical and didactic teaching of special care dentistry to predoctoral dental students, undergraduate dental hygiene students, and postdoctoral residents. Teaching across traditional departmental lines and in multidisciplinary teams is required. Faculty members are expected to foster transformative learning informed by interdisciplinary and translational research, scholarship, and creative expression.

Research:

Faculty members may participate in research protocols and collaborate with dental research programs and investigators.

Clinical:

This vital position will provide a teaching and leadership role in VCU dental clinics, caring for patients with special healthcare needs, mentoring and teaching diverse students, and working collaboratively with other dedicated faculty and staff to promote a safe, compassionate, and adaptive environment focused on patients and their caregivers. Providing exceptional care to patients in the School of Dentistry Special Care Dentistry Clinic and VCU Health System outpatient surgery facilities is expected.

Service:

The faculty member will be expected to contribute to the Department of General Dentistry, the School of Dentistry, and Virginia Commonwealth University by serving on committees and task forces as requested. In addition, participation in dentistry-related community service activities is strongly encouraged.

Required Qualifications:

• DDS or DMD Degree
• GPR or hospital-AEGD experience or other applicable specialty certification, including Pediatric Dentistry
• Must be eligible for a dental license in Virginia
• Experience treating adult patients with diverse special needs
• Must have the desire to mentor future oral health professionals
• Demonstrated ability to adapt to change and embrace modern technology
• Demonstrated ability to contribute to and participate in a humanistic environment of learning
• Demonstrated ability, or acquire and develop such ability, to incorporate adult learning theory, evidence-based oral health care, innovation in student learning, and critical thinking
• Demonstrated experience working in and fostering an environment of respect, professionalism and civility with a population of faculty, staff, and students from various backgrounds and experiences, or a commitment to do so as a faculty member at VCU
• For tenure eligible positions at the Assistant Professor rank, an established research agenda and a clear potential for external funding, as well as potential for scholarship or creative expression to complement and expand existing expertise in the department
• For tenure eligible positions at the Associate Professor or Professor level, a well-developed scholarly/research portfolio with evidence of multi-disciplinary applications and external funding appropriate to complement and expand existing expertise in the department
  
  

Preferred Qualifications:

• Excellent communication skills
• Experience with oral health promotion and education for special needs populations
• Significant experience treating patients with diverse special needs, understanding of different disabilities and ability to adapt treatment plans based on individual needs
• Additional training or certification in special care dentistry through organizations like the Special Care Dentistry Association (SCDA)

Employees working in or with VCU Health in any capacity will be required to comply with all relevant health system policies and procedures, including the health system's vaccination requirements.