BURLINGTON, VT---A $20,000 contribution from Delta Dental Plan of Vermont, in partnership with the Vermont Educational Loan Repayment Program for Dentists, has been instrumental in retaining one dentist in Vermont and recruiting two new, urgently needed pediatric dentists to the state in 2008, according to Elizabeth Cote, Director of the University of Vermont Area Health Education Centers (AHEC). “New dentists carry large educational debt; 200,000 to 300,000 is not uncommon, which often leads them to higher-paying positions in urban, not rural states,” says Cote. In response, the State of Vermont established an Educational Loan Repayment Program for Dentists in 2000. This program is through the Department of Health, administered by the AHEC, and helps dentists with their loan repayment in exchange for a one year service agreement in Vermont for each year they receive loan repayment assistance. Recipients must also agree to treat a percentage of Medicaid patients during their service agreement year(s). “The Delta Dental Plan of Vermont contribution to the State’s Educational Loan repayment funding enables us to attract more dentists to Vermont and demonstrates Delta Dental’s commitment to good health for Vermonters,” she says. “Our community match helped make it more financially attractive to new and existing dentists to practice in Vermont, which correlates well with Delta Dental Plan of Vermont’s oral health mission,” said Tom Raffio, President & CEO of Northeast Delta Dental. Information about the Vermont Educational Loan Repayment Program for dentists, primary care practitioners, nurses, and nurse educators is available at www.vtahec.org.
University of Vermont College of Medicine Dean Frederick Morin III, M.D., today announced the appointment of Charles MacLean, M.D., associate professor of medicine, as interim associate dean for primary care. Dr. McLean will replace John Fogarty, M.D., who left UVM to become dean at Florida State University College of Medicine. MacLean will maintain his faculty appointment and role as research director for the Office of Primary Care, and continue his teaching, research and clinical practice within the Primary Care Internal Medicine division.
MacLean was appointed research director for the UVM Office of Primary Care in 2006, and is the principal investigator for its Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) Program. He joined UVM/Fletcher Allen Health Care in 1988, and served as physician practice manager of the Given Health Care Center Essex site from 1994-2006. MacLean was co-investigator and Project Director of a National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease-funded project entitled the Vermont Diabetes Information System, and he participated in the development of the Vermont Program for Quality in Health Care-Vermont Department of Health "Guidelines for Management of Diabetes in Vermont". He currently serves on the executive committee of the Vermont Blueprint for Health and is the co-chair of the Provider Practice Workgroup.
MacLean received his medical degree from McGill University and served a one-year internal medicine residency at Boston Veterans Administration Medical Center and a two-year primary care internal medicine residency followed by a chief residency at the University of Rochester. He completed a two-year fellowship in the Faculty Development Program in Internal Medicine at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
As highlighted by UVM's ranking by U.S. News & World Report as fifth in the nation for primary care education, the College has an important role to play in enhancing strong networks of community faculty, in strengthening teaching and research programs, in preparing the workforce for the future, and in continuing to build upon academic-community, public-private collaboration to provide needed health care for Vermonters.
