U.S. Air Fore
Col Scott P. Irwin currently serves as the Director of the US Air Force Dental Research and Consultation Service (DRCS). It is part of the 59th Dental Group and is located at Joint Base San Antonio – Fort Sam Houston, Texas. DRCS and its $6 million laboratory are located within the Battlefield Health and Trauma Institute of Surgical Research at Fort Sam Houston. Col Irwin develops and directs the DRCS mission and helps define the Air Force Dental Corps’ research strategy and capabilities. He leads a team of 11 officer, enlisted, civilian and contract staff to execute all DRCS activities required for materials research, dental product and equipment evaluation, dental public health research, infection prevention and control and patient safety, and digital dentistry. He is also responsible for ensuring the critical educational and training role DRCS provides by supporting research efforts of tri-service postgraduate dental residencies.
Col Irwin graduated from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Dentistry in 1996. He completed a one-year Advanced Education in General Dentistry residency at Langley AFB, Virginia in 1997. Col Irwin served in a variety of clinical and leadership positions at Incirlik AB - Turkey, Fairchild AFB – Washington and Port-au-Prince, Haiti. His career has included active duty military, Air National Guard, private practice, and military civilian practice. He earned his MPH from the University of Arizona in 2010, his Dental Public Health specialty certificate from Harvard School of Dental Medicine in Boston, Massachusetts in 2015 and became a Diplomate of the American Board of Dental Public Health in 2016. His personal efforts are centered in population health, healthcare workforce, and professional education research.