COM Outlook - Winter 2016

Dental College Earns Nearly $3.4-Million Grant NSU Lands on Google Maps 44 Nova Southeastern University NSU News of Note Oscar Padilla, D.D.S., associate professor (left), and Sirisha Giovindaiah, D.D.S., pediatric dental resident (right), treat pediatric patient Silas Golubchik. Dentists and other health care providers who treat patients with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) require special training to understand the skills and techniques needed to care for this growing popula- tion. To assist in this effort, NSU’s College of Dental Medicine received a nearly $3.4-million grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to provide training to pediatric dentistry and advanced education in general dentistry residents over a five-year period. The program will include the development of a curriculum addressing the transition of children and adolescents with ASD to adult dental care and aims to increase access to dental care for children and adolescents with special health care needs such as ASD. Currently, NSU’s College of Dental Medicine has pediatric special needs dental clinics at NSU’s Mailman Segal Center for Human Development in Davie, NSU Dental Care at Kids In Distress in Fort Lauderdale, and Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital in Hollywood, along with an adult special needs dental clinic in North Miami Beach. Earlier this year, there were strange things occurring on NSU’s Fort Lauderdale/Davie Campus, which became evident when students and faculty and staff members reported seeing people wielding odd-looking contraptions and riding around in bizarre-looking vehicles. The strange sightings turned out to be a team from Google that was mapping NSU’s campus to be part of its popular Street View program. To capture the needed footage, a Google Trekker spent several days at NSU to record nearly every square foot for Street View, which means visitors or those interested in taking a virtual tour can now use their cell phones or computers to navigate their way around the campus. This project is 100% financed by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under grant num- ber D88HP20126 and Postdoctoral Training in General, Pediatric and Public Health Den- tistry and Dental Hygiene for $3,398,452. This information or content and conclusions are those of the author and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by HRSA, HHS, or the U.S. Government.