The vision of the Regional Initiatives in Dental Education program is to improve the oral and overall health of the public in the Northwest region through increased access to high quality dental care.
The primary mission of RIDE is to provide access to high quality, publicly-funded dental education to states and regions in the Northwest in order to develop dentists who will make a personal commitment to serving the needs of rural and underserved communities.
RIDE is an outgrowth of the University of Washington School of Dentistry’s (UWSOD) mission to take a leadership role in improving the health and well-being of the people of the community and the region through outreach programs that are especially attentive to minority and underserved populations.
Goal 1: Increase numbers of dentists practicing in eastern Washington and other regions of the Northwest through a regional model of dental education.
Goal 2: Ensure equivalency of all UWSOD students’ educational experience to become competent oral health professionals.
Goal 3: Provide students with community-based experiences with diverse populations to foster cultural competency, social responsibility and professionalism.
Goal 4: Create mutually beneficial partnerships with private and public dental entities to foster dissemination of knowledge and access to high quality dental care.
Goal 5: Promote innovative, inter-professional educational experiences for dental students to foster a team approach to health care.
Goal 6: Ensure sustainability of RIDE program and development of a flexible and responsive infrastructure in Seattle and all regional sites.
Goal 7: Develop, implement, and maintain an evaluation system for monitoring RIDE benchmark goals and objectives.