Joan I Gluch, PhD, RDH serves as Division Chief of Community Oral Health at Penn Dental Medicine, leading 21 faculty and staff to develop and implement community-based clinical outreach programs and dental school curriculum in behavioral health sciences, community health, health promotion, disease prevention, and public health. She directs the three community health service learning courses and provides oversight for the PDM clinical outreach programs: Penn Smiles, the mobile children’s dental care program; the dental program at LIFE for low-income elderly; and the dental programs at Sayre Health Center, Spectrum Health Center, and Puentes de Salud for low income children and adults. Dr. Gluch also coordinates the community health honors program, and advises the dual degree DMD/MPH program for pre-doctoral dental students at Penn.
Dr. Gluch’s research interests focus on expanding access to oral health promotion and clinical care in community-based settings. She is the principal investigator for the HRSA training grant to expand pediatric and community-based training for pre-doctoral dental students, as well as the HRSA funded Dental Faculty Loan Repayment Program. She also serves as program faculty for the HRSA training grant to develop the advanced education in general dentistry program. Dr. Gluch also serves as dental school coordinator and program faculty for the Penn community health inter-professional education program, Bridging the Gaps.