Professional Background
Dr. Walter J. Psoter was awarded a National Health Service Corps scholarship in 1977 and received his DDS (New York University, 1979). In 1979-80 he was a dental general practice resident at Strong Memorial Hospital, Rochester, NY. On completion of his residency he entered the U.S. Public Health Service (1980-83) stationed at the Belvis Community Health Center in the South Bronx, NY. Subsequently (1983-1997) he was a dental director and attending dentist at the Roslindale Community Health Center, Boston, MA, the Belchertown and Monson Tuft's Dental Clinics for the Developmentally Disabled, and Rhode Island Hospital. In 1997 he was awarded a 5-year National Research Service Award Fellowship and received his PhD (Yale, 2001) in Epidemiology. On completion of his Fellowship in 2002, Dr. Psoter was appointed Assistant Professor at New York University College of Dentistry and Associate Professor in 2008. In 2002 he was appointed Associate Professor, University of Puerto Rico School of Dental Medicine, San Juan, Puerto Rico, a position he continues to hold. Dr. Psoter was Director of Dental Research, NYU-Lutheran Medical Center from 2013 through 2016 when he joined the URMC as an Associate Professor.
Dr. Psoter is a member of the American Association of Public Health Dentistry (since 1983) and the International and American, Associations of Dental Research. He has served as an NIH and HRSA grant reviewer and manuscript reviewer for numerous biomedical journals. He is the author or co-author of over 50 peer-reviewed publications, two book chapters and five reports to Pan American Health Organization, NIH-NIDCR, U.S. Department of Justice and Homeland Security, and the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer.
Through most of his career, Dr. Psoter has conducted statistical courses for graduate students and post-docs. In the NYU Master in Global Public Health program for health care professionals, Dr. Psoter taught Public Health Research and Practice in less-developed countries, a course based on his international research experiences.
Dr. Psoter's research portfolio includes malnutrition, dental caries and other oral outcomes, disaster and catastrophic event (WMD) public health response, and a current focus on head and neck cancer screening, and head and neck cancer patients' quality of life during and following treatment.
Research
Dr. Walter Psoter is a dentist (DDS, New York University) and Epidemiologist (PhD, Yale University). He has extensive clinical experience in community health and special care dentistry. He is an Associate Professor Department of Dentistry, UR School of Medicine and Dentistry. His research interests are currently focused on head and neck cancer in the areas of secondary and tertiary prevention. Dr. Psoter's research is on increasing the quality and frequency of oral cancer screening examinations, and utilizing the clinical tool the Patient Concerns Inventory for head and neck cancer as a mechanism to increase quality of life during and after head and neck cancer treatment.
Prior research by Dr. Psoter has been internationally orientated and has included studies on malnutrition, dental caries and other oral outcomes, disaster and catastrophic events' (WMD) public health response. He has been extensively involved with research and research infrastructure development with the University of Puerto Rico where he holds an Associate Professor appointment.
Dr. Psoter has been principal investigator on several multi-national, multi-center, multi-, and inter-disciplinary NIH-funded research: (R01) Early childhood protein energy malnutrition and oral outcomes in Haiti, (R21) Increasing Oral Cancer screening by dentists; and co-investigator on: (WHO/PAHO) First Basic Oral Health Survey in Haiti, (U24) UPR: Project RIPCOHD (Research Infrastructure Pathway Centered on Oral Health Disparities), (U54) Risk Factors for Oral Epithelial Dysplasia in Puerto Rico, (U54) Qualitative Study Exploring Late Knowledge, Beliefs, and Practices Related to Late Diagnoses of Oral Cancer, and a (HRSA) UPRSD Hispanic Center of Excellence Focused on Health Disparities. Additionally, he was PI on an R01 equivalent project related to to catastrophic events from WMDs and other disaster responses, which was funded by the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security.
Dr. Psoter is PI of a NIH-NIDCR funded National Dental Practice-Based Research Network on a project to determine the Common practices of oral cancer examinations through 2018, and is a co-investigator of a HRSA faculty development grant through 2021. His research portfolio of current and past grants is composed of 19 grants (one WHO/PAHO, one Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security, two Health Resources and Services Administration, and 15 NIH research and research infrastructure development.