Project ECHO: Lecture Series continues Friday, Feb. 5

Assistant Professor Maryam Tabrizi, RDH, DMD, MPH, of UTHealth School of Dentistry at Houston will continue the 2021 Project ECHO: Lecture Series with “Geriatric Oral Health and the 4 M’s Framework: Mentation” on Feb. 5.

The lecture is a continuation of her four-part series over the 4 M’s Framework: What Matters, Medication, Mentation, and Mobility. The third pillar will introduce the Age-Friendly Health System.

The program is an extension of the Project ECHO superhub at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and the world-wide Project ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes). UTHealth School of Dentistry at Houston is the first subhub focused on geriatric oral health.

In collaboration with the PACE Center, the lecture series will be hosted monthly throughout 2021. Each session will take an in-depth look into oral health and the geriatric community.

Since the summer of 2019, ECHO has been brought general dentists and specialists together through telementoring, a virtual way for oral health professionals to share their knowledge, experiences, and education. Telementoring allows local general dentists to treat patients in rural neighborhoods around the world; ultimately saving patient’s lives by providing quick, collaborative treatment.

“Oral health, culturally and historically, has been undermined and neglected, and ECHO is an innovative tool for telementoring and advocating for elderly oral health,” Tabrizi said. “It’s about unmonopolizing knowledge to provide help. My vision is that at some point, the School of Dentistry will be the greatest source and resource for geriatric oral health. We want to be a vehicle to improve overall health.

“I think ECHO is going to be living at UTSD for a very long time, if not for forever. With the collaboration of PACE Center, the program is sustainable, and I am proud to be a part of it.”

This telementoring ECHO session was made possible by Grant Number K01HP33459 from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), an operating division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Health Resources and Services Administration or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The ECHO series is available for free; however registration is required and space is limited. Visit Go.uth.edu/Echo-Register to sign up or find more information.