UAMS Names Carter to Lead Development of Dental Residency Program
| LITTLE ROCK – Niki Carter, D.M.D., who has more than 24 years of dental experience, has joined the faculty of the Center for Dental Education at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), where she will see patients while leading the effort to develop a dental residency program.
Since 1989, Carter has owned and operated Niki Carter Family Dentistry in Little Rock. She has been appointed an associate professor, serving as part-time faculty for the Center for Dental Education in the UAMS College of Health Professions and also for the Department of Surgery in the UAMS College of Medicine.
Carter, an Arkansas native, earned her Doctor of Dental Medicine degree in 1988 from the University of Louisville School of Dentistry. Following graduation, she served a one-year general practice dental residency at University of Louisville School of Dentistry Humana Hospital before returning to Arkansas to begin her dental practice.
Carter will lead the effort to secure accreditation from the Commission on Dental Accreditation for a general practice residency at UAMS and will serve as director of the residency program. The goal is for the center to achieve accreditation in 2014 and then begin accepting dental residents in 2015.
Hosting dental residents would increase the number of dentists beginning their careers in Arkansas. That was a goal of the Center for Dental Education when it was established in 2012, along with improving access to dental care for patients and to continuing education opportunities for practicing dentists.
Carter is a member of the American Dental Association and the Arkansas State Dental Association.
UAMS is the state’s only health sciences university, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; a hospital; a main campus in Little Rock; a Northwest Arkansas regional campus in Fayetteville; a statewide network of regional campuses; and eight institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, Psychiatric Research Institute, Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging, Translational Research Institute, Institute for Digital Health & Innovation and the Institute for Community Health Innovation. UAMS includes UAMS Health, a statewide health system that encompasses all of UAMS’ clinical enterprise. UAMS is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has 3,275 students, 890 medical residents and fellows, and five dental residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 12,000 employees, including 1,200 physicians who provide care to patients at UAMS, its regional campuses, Arkansas Children’s, the VA Medical Center and Baptist Health. Visit www.uams.edu or uamshealth.com. Find us on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube or Instagram.###