Dr. Raul Cook earned his dental degree from CES University, Colombia, in 1994. In 1998 he achieved a Master in Public Health in the CES University as well. He completed a 3-year Master Program in Periodontics at Saint Louis University in 2008, and his research project was on The Mandibular Density Heritability in a Captive Baboon Population.
Dr. Cook, during his Master program, was a Clinical Instructor for the undergraduate medical-dental students from Southern Illinois University. In 2001, he worked as an Assistant Faculty at the College of Dentistry at University of Illinois at Chicago. Dr. Cook worked as a general dentist for several years and work with different international health organizations such as World Health Organization developing health programs in Colombia.
Dr. Cook is a member of the America Academy of Periodontology, Broward County Dental Association and Fort Lauderdale study club. Dr. Cook is a director of the Intracoastal Dental Study Club,part of the Seattle Study Club, and offers seminars for dental continuing education. Dr. Cook also is a Co-Chair the Department of Implant Dentistry at Broward College. He is on staff at the Broward Health Imperial Point.As a director of this private study club, Dr. Cook has the privilege to be in direct contact with world renowned dentists and speakers. Therefore, Dr. Cook is up to date with the newest and best technologies in the field, benefiting all his patients.
Seattle Study Club is an overnight success that took Dr. Michael Cohen 15 years to develop and perfect. Based on a model he created and continues to use in his own practice, today the Seattle Study Club consists of over 250 active and energetic specialists across the world, each with their own affiliated study clubs.
These doctors and the members of their clubs are dedicated to the advancement of team treatment planning and total case management as the ultimate tool for achieving ideal comprehensive care. They have also committed themselves to excellence in their profession and in the management of their practices.
As the Seattle Study Cub settles into the 21st century, technological advances continue to shape a challenging and innovative future for the dental health care profession. How can the demands of this rapidly changing field be met? What skills and knowledge will be necessary to move comfortably into the future? How can all aspects of dentistry, whether periodontics, oral surgery or endodontics, be incorporated into ones practice, thereby Bridging the Disciplines? The answers to these questions are crucial to comprehension of the role continuing education will play in the future of our profession.
Traditionally, continuing dental education programs have focused on slide and lecture presentations offered over one or two days by recognized experts in the field. The theory behind this conventional model of learning would appear to be the notion that knowledge of a technique or treatment is created through visual and verbal description and further, that ideal dentistry is nothing more than an assemblage of these techniques and treatments. Few, if any, conventional continuing education programs have offered a coherent and comprehensive approach to post-university learning. Instead, the sponsors of these courses have apparently relied upon the practitioners ability to simultaneously analyze his or her own weaknesses and prescribe the appropriate educational tonic.
While a great deal can be learned from the experts, traditional theories of continuing education utterly fail to appreciate the necessity of (1) understanding the big picture into which a technique fits; and (2) hands-on experience incorporating the technique into a specific treatment plan, with a given set of real world parameters. How many dentists have attended lectures or courses intended to convey knowledge of state-of-the-art techniques, yet remain unable or unwilling to utilize these new treatments? These dentists have been denied both a complete comprehension of the specific technique they had hoped to learn and an understanding of the larger context into which that technique is placed. In the process, they have forfeited not only a good deal of their money, but also what is rapidly becoming the most precious commodity of alltheir time.
Standing in sharp contrast to the conventional theory of learning is that advocated by the Seattle Study Club, a true University Without Walls. At its core are three major principles. The first principle is the philosophy that neither ideal learning nor ideal dentistry can be attained by a random exposure to various techniques and treatment modalities, even if those techniques, taken individually, represent state-of-the-art treatment. Rather, the highest and most beneficial knowledge and treatment results from total case managementan appreciation of the big picture and a true understanding of the role any given technique or treatment plays in that picture.
The third principle is the idea that learning with and from ones peers in a structured and supportive environment is the most effective way to master the challenges posed by the dental profession. The study club provides a forum for the University Without Walls, a well-organized continuing education program, with a comprehensive curriculum incorporating all aspects of clinical, didactic and academic learning.