The Bluefield College School of Dental Medicine will receive a $150,000 grant from the Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission for accreditation and development.
The school intends to address the shortage of dentists in Appalachia after opening in the fall of 2015. Collaboration between Bluefield College, the Tazewell County Board of Supervisors, and the Tazewell County Industrial Development Authority is guiding the effort.
The grant help build the curriculum, currently being designed by inaugural dean Francis Serio, DMD, and form partnerships with dental clinics and private practices in Southwest and Southside Virginia. A goal of the program is to have students in their third and fourth year of dental school serve at rural clinics in Central Appalachia, covering 41 counties.
The commission has issued some $962 million in economic development grants in Virginia since the four largest U.S. tobacco companies reached the Master Settlement Agreement with the U.S. government.
