Northeast Regional Center for Minority Oral Health

Legeros, Racquel

Abstract

The New York University College of Dentistry (NYUCD), a dental school serving a large minority population, as the applicant institution, and the Forsyth Dental Center (FDC) as the research intensive institution, will work together in developing the necessary collaborative alliance and organizational structure leading to the establishment of the Northeast Regional Research Center for Minority Oral Health.
The specific aims i nclude components related to the development of the Center Core and to collaborative research activities concerning minority oral health.
The aims of the Core activities include: (a) coordinate research training of NYUCD minority junior faculty, advanced students and research assistants in clinical and basic research environments at NYUCD and FDC, thereby enhancing the research capabilities and minority participation in oral health research as investigators; (b) expand minority participation as subjects in studies of their oral health status and needs; (c) intensify activities which effectively target the recruitment of minority students to enroll in the dental programs at NYUCD; (d) obtain increased complementary funding from industry, government and foundations to support the Core and research activities.
The aims of the research activities include: (a) conduct collaborative small research projects and pilot studies in areas relating to minority oral health: epidemiology; periodontal disease risk assessment, diagnosis and therapy; microbiology; saliva; dental plaque in relation to caries incidence and calculus formation; and oral cancer; (b) provide opportunities for training and development in clinical and basic research for NYUCD minority junior faculty, students and technical personnel; (c) collect initial data concerning oral health care awareness among various ethnic groups to be used in developing a behavioral science research project for Phase 2.
These specific aims address the objectives which reflect NIDR's charge and mission of establishing Regional Research Centers for Minority Oral Health to alleviate the disproportionate oral health burden of American minorities; increase minority participation as researchers targeting minority oral health needs; and enhance the research infrastructure of a dental school serving a large minority population.