If you missed our webinar “Connecting the Dots Across Oral Health, Food Insecurity, and Malnutrition,” the slides (PDF) are available here and the recording is available here.
Malnutrition is a complex condition that is afflicting a growing number of older adults across the country. Food insecurity and poor oral health contribute to malnutrition and threaten the health, independence, and well-being of older adults. Innovative programs are screening for and addressing oral health problems and developing and delivering modified meals appropriate for reduced oral/dental function. Join us to learn about these programs.
Webinar Panelists:
Tim Platts-Mills, MD, MSc, Vice Chair of Research, Department of Emergency Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Tim Platts-Mills, MD, MSc is a clinical research, an emergency physician, and the Vice Chair of Research for the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. For the past decade, Dr. Platts-Mills has conducted prospective studies of older adults receiving care in the emergency department, with particular attention to “non-medical” problems. His research group is the first to formally characterize the scope of the problem of malnutrition and the etiologies of malnutrition among older adults in the emergency department. In partnership with West Health, the group seeks to develop ED-based pathways for the identifying of malnutrition and related problems and link patients to community-based resources.
Kavita P. Ahluwalia, DDS, MPH, Associate Professor of Dental Medicine (at CUMC), Columbia University, College of Dental Medicine
Kavita Ahluwalia received both a DDS and MPH from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and completed a residency in Dental Public Health from the Veterans Administration in Perry Point, Maryland. She is Board Certified by the American Board of Dental Public Health, and she is the Director of the College’s Dental Public Health Residency Program. Dr. Ahluwalia’s research is focused on the utilization of Community-Based Participatory (CBPR) methods to address oral health and oral healthcare disparities across the lifespan; in particular, she is interested in working with communities and non-dental professionals to integrate oral health into existing systems of care both in the United States and East Africa. She has worked with local and regional agencies such as Meals-on-Wheels, New York City’s Department for the Aging, and the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to address programmatic and policy concerns among vulnerable populations. Dr. Ahluwalia has been funded by the National Institute on Aging, the National Cancer Institute, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Legacy Foundation, the Administration for Community Living, New York State Health Department and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to address the oral health needs of community-dwelling and institutionalized older adults. In addition to mentoring student research, Dr. Ahluwalia supervises the research of dental public health residents, directs the College’s course in Foundational Analytic Skills and Research Methods, and teaches Program Evaluation at the Mailman School of Public Health.
Mario Orozco, MPH, MBA, CCRP, Principal Investigator at West Health Institute, Oral Healthcare
Mario Orozco is a principal investigator at West Health Institute with the Oral Healthcare and Coordination team. He brings over 15 years of experience in clinical research, public health, and healthcare administration. He has dedicated over a decade of his career working in community-participatory research with a focus in oral health in several community health centers and public schools serving vulnerable populations in the U.S. and in Costa Rica. He has also worked in clinical trials in other therapeutic areas such as Alzheimer’s, dementia and oncology. Mario is a past president of the Hispanic Dental Association of San Diego and has volunteered for various organizations that advocate for the homeless. He holds a D.D.S. from the University of Costa Rica, a master’s degree in public health from Boston University, and a master’s in business administration from the University of San Diego.