Funds are requested in this application to support the Rochester Training Program in Oral Science (TPOS). Additional basic and clinician-scientists will be required for society to take advantage of the rapid and dramatic advances being made in the biomedical sciences. The Center for Oral Biology?s training programs have been highly successful in recruiting, training and retaining Oral Science researchers over the past 25+ years. The University of Rochester Medical Center, including the Eastman Institute for Oral Health (EIOH), has committed substantial resources to recruit new faculty, to improve our physical plant, and to acquire new technologies; thereby, expanding the depth and breadth of training that will be necessary to excel. In support of the NIDCR Strategic Plan for 2014-2019, our goals continue to be focused on developing a well-trained, diverse workforce. The TPOS program has been designed to deliver a multidisciplinary workforce with proficiency in research design, state-of-the-art technologies and use of analytical/biostatistical techniques. We will foster in our trainees the ability to think critically about their research and that of others; and, we will use novel approaches, described in the application, to advance our trainees? ability to conduct self-assessment, facilitating their growth into independent scientists. Trainees will build their skills in presentation, publishing, and grant writing using existing Institutional faculty and resources. Finally, our Trainees will be encouraged to travel to national and international conferences, as a means of broadening their views of science, the science community, and the diversity of the human experience. Our over-arching goal is to develop in our trainees the skill sets and confidence to interact professionally with the scientific community and to undertake careers in health-related sciences. To accomplish our goals, we will recruit PhDs, and baccalaureate degree-holders pursuing a PhD, to the field of Oral Science. We will host a DSTP Program for dental students who wish to coordinate clinical studies with PhD training. This unique program partners the excellent clinical programs at the University of Puerto Rico with the PhD programs at the research-intensive University of Rochester. Our program will also include R90 research education for internationally trained DDS, PhD dual-degree holders. The components of TPOS are integrated through the Rochester Graduate Program, the clinical programs of the EIOH, and the educational resources of the Rochester Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute.
The proposed Training Program aims to prepare scientists and dentists to become leaders in the research of oral disease and craniofacial development. The program will integrate classroom work, research in laboratories, hospitals, and dental clinics in a multidisciplinary fashion. Our long-term goal is to accelerate the pace at which effective, new treatments for diseases can be brought to the public to lessen suffering and improve lives.
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