The UCLA School of Dentistry seeks to develop a Western Comprehensive Oral Health Research Center of Discovery for the Biologic and Social Implications of Age-related Oral Diseases. The overall purpose is to provide an intellectual and physical environment to support outstanding multidisciplinary basic, translational and applied research. The goals of the Comprehensive Center are two-fold: to discover effective means of preventing and treating age-related oral diseases; and to determine effective means to convey this knowledge to health professionals and the public. Collaborators in this endeavor are the V.A. West Los Angeles, V. A. Sepulveda, U.C. San Diego School of Medicine, Drew University, RAND Graduate Institute, and Kaiser Permanente, Portland. The resources of the planning grant will be utilized to expand on the activities already in process to achieve four major objectives: l) To develop an administrative structure that focuses UCLA and affiliate organization resources on the development of a biologic, behavioral and health services research program targeted at age-related oral diseases, specifically oral cancer and bone diseases related to bone mass or the alveolar structures. 2) To highlight the importance of collaborative research regarding age- related oral diseases and recruit faculty to the research base through monthly colloquia and a retreat which brings together the scientists associated with the Center. 3) To provide seed support for collaborative multidisciplinary teams to develop research projects leading to preliminary findings for the Comprehensive Center application. 4) To develop and implement a mechanism to obtain matching grant support for center projects.
