Mario Brondani

Biography

Dr. Brondani holds a dental degree - DDS (1990-1994) from Faculty of Dentistry, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul – UFRGS (Porto Alegre, Brazil); a Master's of Science in Biomedical Gerontology with honours (2000-2002) from the Institute of Geriatrics and Gerontology -IGG, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul – PUCRS (Porto Alegre, Brazil); a Ph.D. in Dental Sciences from UBC (2002-2007), and M.P.H from the UBC School of Population and Public Health (2010-2012). He completed a Teaching in Higher Education Certificate Program – Graduated Certificate Program (2006-2007) from the Centre for Teaching, Learning and technology – LTLC at UBC, and a Peer Reviewer Workshop for Educators (www.peerreview.ca/Peer_reviewers.html)    While working as a general dentist in his private practice (Brazil, 1995-2002), he volunteered in a long-term care facility prompting him to concentrate efforts towards gerontology/geriatrics, dental public health and volunteerism. His MSc focused on the development, application and evaluation of an educational oral health program for seniors and care aids from 12 long-term care facilities. He pursued a Ph.D to evaluate and refine a model of oral health for older adults and to unravel the validity of dental psychometrics used to measure the oral health-related quality of life in old age. While in the Ph.D program, he taught in the Problem Based Learning – PBL curriculum at both Faculties of Medicine and Dentistry. He also enhanced further his volunteerism at AIDS Vancouver which enabled him to get involved with the creation of HIM - Health Initiative for Men society, a gay's men health resource exchange program in which he was one of the Board of Directors. He has also provided extramural educational activities. From a Community Service Learning Leadership Workshop (2007), Dr Brondani got fully involved with the development of the PACS – Professionalism and Community Services module now replaced by the PEP I and II – Principles of Ethical Practice. He teaches in both modules and coordinates the Dental Geriatric module in year 3. His M.P.H. was focused on the barriers in non-medical HIV services utilization faced by marginalized populations in Vancouver.    His 3 main areas of interest for research include: 1) Public Dental Health: Outreach initiatives within marginalised communities, community engagement/participatory research, and oral health promotion and policy development; 2) Dental geriatrics: Education, Development and translation (validity) of Dental psychometric measures and Models of oral health in old age (theoretical and empirical conceptualization) culturally sensitive; and 3) Dental Education: Curriculum development and Community Service Learning (the use of reflective journaling as an approach to enhance learning) and the impact of this methodology upon students and the community they serve.  

Research Interest

 1) Public Dental Health: Outreach initiatives within marginalised communities, community engagement/participatory research, and oral health promotion and policy development. 2) Dental geriatrics: Education, Development and translation (validity) of Dental psychometric measures and Models of oral health in old age (theoretical and empirical conceptualization) culturally sensitive. 3) Dental Education: Curriculum development and Community Service Learning (the use of reflective journaling as an approach to enhance learning) and the impact of this methodology upon students and the community they serve.