A novel approach for effective integration of new faculty leadership

Natalie B Hastings,1 Linda S Centore,2 Stuart A Gansky,3 Frederick C Finzen,4 Joel M White,5 Eric Wong,6 Grayson W Marshall,7 Lisa Chung,3 Elsbeth Kalenderian3 1Division of Clinical General Dentistry, Department of Preventive and Restorative Dental Sciences, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) School of Dentistry, San Francisco, CA, USA; 2Division of Behavioral Sciences & Community Dental Education, Department of Preventive and Restorative Dental Sciences, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) School of Dentistry, San Francisco, CA, USA; 3Division of Oral Epidemiology & Dental Public Health, Department of Preventive and Restorative Dental Sciences, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) School of Dentistry, San Francisco, CA, USA; 4Division of Prosthodontics, Department of Preventive and Restorative Dental Sciences, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) School of Dentistry, San Francisco, CA, USA; 5Division of Preclinical Simulation, Department of Preventive and Restorative Dental Sciences, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) School of Dentistry, San Francisco, CA, USA; 6Division of Endodontics, Department of Preventive and Restorative Dental Sciences, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) School of Dentistry, San Francisco, CA, USA; 7Division of Biomaterials and Bioengineering, Department of Preventive and Restorative Dental Sciences, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) School of Dentistry, San Francisco, CA, USA Purpose: We report on an accelerated and effective way of assimilating a new leader into a team at a large academic dental school department.Methods: At University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), a new Chair was recruited through a national search to lead its largest department in the School of Dentistry. Two months after arrival, the new Chair embarked on a process of leadership assimilation among her executive team, facilitated by a professional consultant. Within four weeks, team members participated in one-on-one interviews with the professional facilitator consultant and then completed the leadership assimilation questionnaire and returned it electronically to the facilitator. The facilitator then summarized all answers into themes and met with the team members without the Chair to debrief. Thereafter, the facilitator met with the Chair to discuss the major themes. Next, the Chair met with the team members in a facilitated session to discuss the results and negotiate a path forward.Results: Approximately half of the feedback described the “how” of leadership: comments on communication, building relationships, building trust, and understanding UCSF history. The remaining half described the “what”: comments on vision, strategy, and operations. Team members indicated that the first debriefing session was helpful to alleviate initial anxiety and to start building team spirit. The session with the Chair was perceived as open and fruitful in which team members were able to express their concerns and hopes for the Department, while the Chair showed commitment to the team and the communication process.Conclusion: Leader assimilation allows teams to share their expectations and anxieties with the new leader early in the relationship in an open way, before new habits and beliefs are formed. Conversely, for the leader, it effectively and efficiently allows a window into the team members’ thinking at a critical time period when otherwise first impressions occur. With a safe space created for open communication, the process allowed siloed individual division leaders to move toward a cohesive group while at the same time solidifying a commitment to the success of the new leader. Keywords: dental school, leadership, new leader assimilation, feedback, team, transitio

The hierarchical cluster analysis of oral health attitudes and behaviour using the Hiroshima University - Dental Behavioural Inventory (HU-DBI) among final year dental students in 17 countries

Objective: To explore and describe international oral health attitudes/behaviours among final year dental students. Methods: Validated translated versions of the Hiroshima University-Dental Behavioural Inventory (HU-DBI) questionnaire were administered to 1,096 final-year dental students in 17 countries. Hierarchical cluster analysis was conducted within the data to detect patterns and groupings. Results: The overall response rate was 72%. The cluster analysis identified two main groups among the countries. Group 1 consisted of twelve countries: one Oceanic (Australia), one Middle-Eastern (Israel), seven European (Northern Ireland, England, Finland, Greece, Germany, Italy, and France) and three Asian (Korea, Thailand and Malaysia) countries. Group 2 consisted of five countries: one South American (Brazil), one European (Belgium) and three Asian (China, Indonesia and Japan) countries. The percentages of 'agree' responses in three HU-DBI questionnaire items were significantly higher in Group 2 than in Group 1. They include: "I worry about the colour of my teeth."; "I have noticed some white sticky deposits on my teeth."; and "I am bothered by the colour of my gums." Conclusion: Grouping the countries into international clusters yielded useful information for dentistry and dental education. © 2006 FDI/World Dental Press.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Epigenetic inheritance: Uncontested?

“Epigenetics” is currently defined as “the inheritance of variation (-genetics) above and beyond (epi-) changes in the DNA sequence”. Despite the fact that histones are believed to carry important epigenetic information, little is known about the molecular mechanisms of the inheritance of histone-based epigenetic information, including histone modifications and histone variants. Here we review recent progress and discuss potential models for the mitotic inheritance of histone modifications-based epigenetic information