The dentist-scientist career pathway in Africa: opportunities and obstacles

Henry Ademola Adeola; Anthonio Adefuye; Olujide Soyele; Azeez Butali

doi:10.3946/kjme.2018.93

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The dentist-scientist career pathway in Africa: opportunities and obstacles

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

The dentist-scientist career pathway in Africa: opportunities and obstacles

Henry Ademola Adeola, Anthonio Adefuye, Olujide Soyele and Azeez Butali

Korean journal of medical education, Vol.30(3), pp.189-198

09/2018

DOI: 10.3946/kjme.2018.93

PMCID: PMC6127611

PMID: 30180506

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Abstract

The future of evidence-based dentistry in developing Africa heavily depends on a sustainable establishment of a vibrant dentist-scientist workforce. A dentist scientist is saddled with the responsibility of carrying out robust cutting edge research projects that are inspired by clinical experience. Currently, there are no pipelines in place to systematically train such dentists, neither are there programs in place to allow trained African dentists choose such a career pathway. A dentist-scientist is a person who studied oral, dental, maxillofacial (or craniofacial) diseases, prevention, and population sciences (obtaining a medical degrees such as bachelor of dental surgery [BDS] or BChD) alone; or in combination with other advanced degrees such as doctor of dental surgery (DDS)/doctor of philosophy (PhD) or BDS/PhD. This situation has resulted in overdependence of African clinical practice on research findings from technologically advanced Western countries and a decline in clinical research capacity building. The career path of a dentist-scientist should involve research along the spectrum of basic biomedical sciences, translational, clinical and public health sciences. There are several factors responsible for the ultra-low count of dentist-scientist in the heterogeneous African communities such as: poor biomedical research infrastructure; lack of funding; absence of structured dentist scientist career pathways; lack of personnel, inter alia. Hence, this review hopes to discuss the opportunities of setting up a dentist-scientist training pathway in Africa (as obtains in most developed world settings), identify opportunities and prospects of developing an African dentist-scientist workforce, and finally discuss the challenges involved.

Humans

Africa

Career Choice

Science

Biomedical Research

Developing Countries

Dentistry

Capacity Building

Dentists

Details

Title: Subtitle: The dentist-scientist career pathway in Africa: opportunities and obstacles
Creators: Henry Ademola Adeola - Division of Dermatology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, Republic of South Africa
Anthonio Adefuye - Division of Health Sciences Education, Office of the Dean, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, Republic of South Africa
Olujide Soyele - Department of Oral Maxillo-Facial Surgery and Oral Pathology, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria
Azeez Butali - Department of Oral Pathology, Radiology and Medicine, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Korean journal of medical education, Vol.30(3), pp.189-198
DOI: 10.3946/kjme.2018.93
PMID: 30180506
PMCID: PMC6127611
NLM abbreviation: Korean J Med Educ
ISSN: 2005-727X
eISSN: 2005-7288
Publisher: Korea (South)
Grant note: National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research
Language: English
Date published: 09/2018
Academic Unit: Oral Pathology, Radiology and Medicine; Stead Family Department of Pediatrics; Craniofacial Anomalies Research Center; Dental Research
Record Identifier: 9984066098402771

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