Current Projects: Patient Care
The CHYRON team is currently developing the interdisciplinary patient care models and protocols for the expanded clinical services component of their flagship program in Louisville, Kentucky: The Underwood and Lee Clinic.
The new Underwood and Lee clinical program will feature primary care medicine, comprehensive general dentistry, and neurodevelopmental psychiatry as core service components. The program model currently being developed by the CHYRON team provides for the delivery of these interdisciplinary services at a single clinic site. The model brings developmental physicians and dentists, residents, externs, and fellows into the same clinical environment where the concept of interdisciplinary primary care can take shape in the form of a comprehensive, coordinated, team-oriented approach to whole-person health care.
Additionally, the program model will feature day clinics, which will bring community-based neurologists, cardiologists, oral surgeons, periodontal surgeons, prosthodontists, podiatrists, optometrists, audiologists, physical therapists, speech and language pathologists, physiatrists, geneticists, and other specialists to the Underwood and Lee Clinic.
By accessing this rich network of community-based specialists, and by bringing this wealth of expertise to the treatment planning table, valuable specialized health care services can be coordinated to fit seamlessly with the primary care treatment plan, improving overall health outcomes for our special patients.
Current Projects: Teaching
Developmental Medicine Teaching and Fellowship Program
The CHYRON team is currently planning for the expansion of the Underwood and Lee Clinic program. The teaching component of this program will feature undergraduate medical student rotations, medical residency rotations, a domestic and international continuing education component, and a 1-year, PGY-4 fellowship in the emerging field of Developmental Medicine. These teaching programs will focus on the delivery of primary care to the unique population of adults with neurodevelopmental disorders and intellectual disabilities, with special emphasis on neurology, psychiatry, rehabilitation, genetics, preventive health, and interdisciplinary care and coordination.
Developmental Dentistry and Dental Hygiene Mini-Residencies
The CHYRON team has recently developed two new postgraduate teaching programs, which are unlike any other program in the country. The Developmental Dentistry and Developmental Dental Hygiene Mini-Residencies are intensive, two-week programs developed for dentists and dental hygienists who have graduated from accredited programs, and who wish to complete additional, focused training in the care of patients with neurodevelopmental disorders and intellectual disabilities (ND/ID). Based at the Underwood and Lee Clinic, and affiliated with the University of Louisville School of Dentistry (ULSD) in Louisville, Kentucky, these mini-residencies provide a clinical immersion experience in the care of pediatric and adult patients with ND/ID. Each program also features a seven-hour lecture component, which provides the theoretical and conceptual basis for an organized approach to quality patient care. Clinical training includes rotations in genetics, public policy, and human exceptionality.
Current Projects: Research
The CHYRON team is developing four separate clinical research initiatives for 2010 and 2011, which are in various stages of preparation for submission to the University of Louisville Human Subjects Protection Committee. Areas of focus include:
- A comparative analysis of the intraoral radiographic findings in thirty-eight study subjects diagnosed with Trisomy 21 compared with the intraoral radiographic findings in thirty-eight control subjects diagnosed with a neurodevelopmental disorder other than Trisomy 21.
PDF Document: 1. Trisomy 21 - An assessment and documentation of the levels of radiation exposure experienced by dentists and dental assistants as they obtain digital intraoral radiographs of patients with severe to profound intellectual disabilities.
PDF Document: 2. Dosimetry - A review of the findings on esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) in multiple intellectually disabled dental patients who have been referred to gastroenterology by a developmental dentist after an initial finding of chemical erosion of tooth enamel on comprehensive intraoral exam.
PDF Document: 3. Enamel Erosion / GERD - A clinical case review of a thirty-nine year-old female patient with history of oral-facial-digital (OFD) syndrome who presents for evaluation of pain in her left maxillary quadrant.
PDF Document: 4. OFD Syndrome
For additional information on these research initiatives, please refer to the respective links.