Faculty member Sarah Tomaka named to lead dental school’s external rotation program at clinics around Michigan4 min read

Ann Arbor, Mich., Sept. 19, 2024 – School of Dentistry faculty member Dr. Sarah Tomaka has been promoted from Associate Director to Assistant Dean for the Community-Based Collaborative Care and Education (CBCE) program, which is the school’s expansive external rotation program for dental students.

Dean Jacques Nör announced the appointment, effective Sept. 1.

In her new role, Dr. Tomaka will support the work of predoctoral students in their rotations at about 15 clinics around Michigan. CBCE is a year-round program that is a graded course in the dental school curriculum, sending fourth-year students to clinics around the state for 12 weeks, usually for two weeks at a time. Third-year students also participate in CBCE, with fewer rotations for shorter periods of time. Most sites are Federally-Qualified Health Care (FQHC) clinics providing dental care to underserved patients. Some are Dental Service Organization (DSO) clinics, and some have more narrow patient populations, for children or military veterans. Regardless of the type of patients, all of the clinics enhance the broad diversity of patients and dental treatments beyond the normal patient pool scheduled by students at the dental school.

Tomaka will lead the recruitment of new CBCE sites and maintain strong relationships with current sites, working with governmental and non-governmental agencies in support of the program to ensure its sustainability. She will implement continuous assessment and improvement protocols as well as oversee the further development and implementation of a curriculum of interprofessional experiential education.

Tomaka takes over leadership of the program from Dr. Mark Fitzgerald, who is stepping down from his role of Associate Dean of CBCE while continuing to serve the school as Senior Associate Dean. Tomaka has been part of the CBCE program since 2023, serving as Associate Director under Fitzgerald.

A graduate of the U-M School of Dentistry in 2015, Tomaka joined the faculty as an adjunct clinical lecturer in 2017. In 2022, she was promoted to Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Cariology, Restorative Sciences and Endodontics. She holds a Master’s degree in Public Health from Saginaw Valley State University and has extensive experience with underserved populations in Michigan while working as a dentist at a FQHC in Saginaw from 2017 to 2022.  

Tomaka currently serves on two committees of the Michigan Dental Association: She is the chair of the Committee on Access to Care, and is a member of the Committee on Insurance and Government Insurance Affairs.  She is also a member of the State of Michigan Infant Perinatal Health Committee. Earlier this year, she received the Faculty of the Year award from the Michigan Dental Association, given annually to a U-M faculty member. She is also a fellow of the Pierre Fauchard Academy and the International College of Dentists.

In his announcement of Tomaka’s appointment, Nör thanked Fitzgerald for his leadership of CBCE since 2017, which included expanding and adding different types of clinic sites that provide enriching and practical training experiences for students. Nör noted that Fitzgerald helped restore the CBCE program in 2021 after the restrictions required by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. Nör said Fitzgerald renewed the school’s commitment to community-based care and strengthened the CBCE program by enhancing the interprofessional educational opportunities for students.

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The University of Michigan School of Dentistry is one of the nation’s leading dental schools engaged in oral healthcare education, research, patient care and community service.  General dental care clinics and specialty clinics providing advanced treatment enable the school to offer dental services and programs to patients throughout Michigan.  Classroom and clinic instruction prepare future dentists, dental specialists and dental hygienists for practice in private offices, hospitals, academia and public agencies.  Research seeks to discover and apply new knowledge that can help patients worldwide.  For more information about the School of Dentistry, visit us on the Web at: www.dent.umich.edu.  Contact: Lynn Monson, associate director of communications, at [email protected], or (734) 615-1971.