1508 Journal of Dental Education ■ Volume 77, Number 11 Developing the Next Generation of Leaders in Oral Health Elsbeth Kalenderian, D.D.S., M.P.H.; Russell S. Taichman, D.M.D., D.M.Sc.; Angelique Skoulas, D.D.S., M.P.A.; Nader Nadershahi, D.D.S., M.B.A., Ed.D.; Kristin Z. Victoroff, D.D.S., Ph.D. Abstract: Given the challenges facing oral health providers as practitioners, community leaders, and educators, expanding dental curricula with an introductory course on leadership is timely and necessary. Such a course will sow the seeds of leadership by deining its importance in the dental profession and creating an understanding that the skills associated with leadership need to be developed over a lifetime. This article reports on a conference session in which a group of faculty members and students discussed the need and value of teaching leadership, compared leadership programs from four U.S. dental schools, and proposed an implementation framework for leadership programs at other dental schools. The moderator led discussion of participants’ sug- gestions for course materials and implementation frameworks in small-group sessions. The participants’ responses were captured using standardized worksheets. Time, including faculty members’ and students’, was considered the biggest barrier to implement- ing a leadership course. A number of opportunities were identiied, including the ability for interprofessional collaboration and the opportunity for students to grow and learn. Creating a core course with optional components was considered the most attrac- tive option. In this experience, the participants gained perspective on the challenges and opportunities for developing a leadership curriculum and were provided with a tangible product for further development. Dr. Kalenderian is Chair, Department of Oral Health Policy and Epidemiology, and Chief of Quality, Ofice of Clinical Affairs, Harvard School of Dental Medicine; Dr. Taichman is Major Ash Collegiate Professor and Director for the Scholars Program in Dental Leadership, Department of Periodontics and Oral Medicine, University of Michigan School of Dentistry; Dr. Skoulas is Instructor in Oral Health Policy and Epidemiology and Co-Director, Graduate Leadership Studies Program, Harvard School of Dental Medicine; Dr. Nadershahi is Executive Associate Dean and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, University of the Paciic Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry; and Dr. Victoroff is Associate Dean for Education, School of Dental Medicine, Case West- ern Reserve University. Direct correspondence and requests for reprints to Dr. Kristin Z. Victoroff, School of Dental Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, 2124 Cornell Road, Cleveland, OH 44016-4905; 216-368-6616; kaz3@case.edu. Keywords: leadership, leadership training, dental faculty, dental students Submitted for publication 7/29/12; accepted 12/23/12 A ll oral health professionals, and dentists in particular, are faced with an ongoing and evolving challenge in both the scope and deinition of dental practice. The current chal- lenges relect changes in our understanding of what health and well-being mean. Equally important are questions about how oral diseases impact our patients from systemic, inancial, and psychosocial standpoints. Moreover, patients have become more sophisticated in their understanding of what oral health means to them and their families. With greater frequency, patients are prepared to play advocacy roles on their own behalf to achieve optimal oral health. 1,2 At the same time, resource limits place an increasing demand on the health care workforce and are reducing the autonomy of the profession. 3,4 Whether these changes ultimately lead to improve- ments in how we, as a society, deliver oral health care or erosions in the profession’s ability to address the needs of our patients will be determined by a coali- tion of stakeholders including, but not limited to, patients, politicians, insurance corporations, dentists, and non-dentist oral health providers. Moreover, the complexity of the issues faced by the profession suggests a need for a structured change, for if indeed dentists represent those best educated and equipped to guide the oral health of our nation, then dentists must learn to take a greater role in reframing the health care debate. Equally as important, dentists, as health care providers, must begin to ind and imple- ment solutions to the complex issues that represent threats to the oral health of our nation. To do so will require a change in the culture of our profession. To change the professional culture, we must begin with the training of our future colleagues: dental students. A basic deinition of leadership training refers to purposeful expansion of an individual’s capacity focused on leadership, in which leaders and groups learn how best to work together in productive and meaningful ways. 5 As such, a focus on leadership development represents an institution’s long-term commitment to build leadership capacity among its