13 February 2025

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Dental school faculty member Elizabeth Van Tubergen is new director of Oral Health Sciences MS program

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School of Dentistry faculty member Dr. Elizabeth Van Tubergen has been appointed Director of the school’s Oral Health Sciences Master’s Degree Program.

Van Tubergen is a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Cariology, Restorative Sciences and Endodontics. Her appointment, announced by Associate Dean for Research Vesa Kaartinen, was effective January 1, 2025, and runs through December, 2028.

In her new role, Van Tubergen will oversee and manage the MS program’s courses, student recruitment and budget. She will coordinate new course development; mentor and advise students in their academic and research endeavors; pursue funding opportunities to support students and the program; serve as the liaison for the school’s MS programs at the university’s Rackham Graduate School; and chair the OMS/MS program committee.

The dental school added the one-year Master’s degree program in 2020 to allow students considering dental school to strengthen their academic and research credentials for applying to DDS programs; to strengthen student’s applications for either DDS/PhD or PhD programs; and to prepare students for a research laboratory management career.

Van Tubergen received her DDS in 2006 from the U-M School of Dentistry, followed by a PhD degree in Oral Health Sciences in 2012 with a focus on head and neck tumor progression. She began her teaching career in 2014 and taught pre-clinical courses for first-year students for five years before transitioning to pre-clinical courses for second-year students that she currently co-directs.

In 2020, she became the director of the Selectives Program, the elective course component of the school’s Pathways program, which allows students to enrich their DDS curriculum based on their own individual experiences and interests. Over the past four years, she has expanded the program from 21 courses to 36 with a focus on specialty training that allows for the development of discipline-specific tracks. This gives students more autonomy in choosing their own educational pathway. 

The OHS MS website has more information on the Master’s program.

Source: https://news.dent.umich.edu/