Dr. Jodi McGrady, seen here caring for a patient, is the new section chief of Dental/Oral Maxillofacial Surgery at Rady Children’s Hospital. (courtesy photo)
McGrady enters role at Rady Children’s Hospital
Scripps Ranch resident Dr. Jodi McGrady was named section chief of Dental/Oral Maxillofacial Surgery at Rady Children’s Hospital earlier this year. McGrady is a dentist at Rady Children’s Hospital and she has a private practice in Poway: McGrady Dental Group.
McGrady’s practice is known for being family-friendly. She says that the family-oriented nature of dentistry is what attracted her to it.
“I always wanted to be somewhere in healthcare, I never imagined myself doing anything else,” she said. “My family dentist was actually a big influence on me, talking to me about how you become a part of a family, you see children grow, they go off to college and you know you’re a part of their lives.”
Outreach and pediatric dentistry have been focuses of McGrady’s career. She volunteers with 1,000 Smiles, a group that goes to Ensenada, Mexico, to provide dental care for orphans. McGrady also has an advanced research degree in an outreach-related field. Her Master’s degree in Dental Public Health focused on limitations in access to care for children. McGrady said that she draws on her public health degree in her every day care of patients.
“I’m always very aware of access. We have kids who come from El Centro and have a two-hour drive and I’m very cognizant of that,” McGrady said.
She thinks about “what the barriers are to them coming back a second time,” and makes efforts to accommodate them.
McGrady completed her residency at the University of Iowa, where she focused on special needs patients. After 15 years of seeing patients she felt like she was “still missing that piece, the younger kids,” so she completed a certification in pediatric dentistry at Rady Children’s Hospital. At Rady, she conducted research on special needs children transitioning out of pediatric care and into general dentistry.
In her new role as section chief, McGrady hopes to be a communication facilitator and a representative for the other dentists at Rady. She sees the position as an expansion of her current one as a caregiver. McGrady explained that dentistry is “one on one,” which she enjoys. However, she is looking forward to having more opportunities to work in a collaborative capacity, something she also enjoys.
McGrady said she looks forward to working with the hospital’s department heads and working “across medicine” with people in different medical specialties.