This proposal integrates ongoing training programs within the Ohio State University Health Sciences Center under the umbrella of the College of Dentistry to address the urgent need to train faculty in oral health and craniofacial research. The faculty and administration in the College of Dentistry have recognized the acute and long-term shortage of qualified researchers in multidisciplinary research. Over the last decade, training programs such as DDS/PhD and Clinician Scientist programs have been developed in the College of Dentistry to train academic clinicians in multidisciplinary research. The administration has funded these programs by providing stipends and tuition for these trainees. Trainees have responded by acquiring individual NRSA support from the NIDCR. Thus, this proposal engages many training programs already in place within the College of Dentistry and integrates them into a comprehensive multidisciplinary training program. It takes advantage of a strong interdisciplinary faculty working in the framework of a vital and expanding Health Sciences Center. Training opportunities will include: 1) short-term training programs for pre-doctoral students and faculty; 2) Ph.D. training in the Oral Biology Ph.D. program and three multidisciplinary parallel programs in Integrated Biomedical Sciences, Neuroscience, and Biomedical Engineering; 3) combined DDS/PhD and MD/PhD dual training; 4) post doctoral training including post PhDs and Clinician/Scientists; and 5) long term research training/retraining for faculty. The focus of each of these programs is to develop research experiences that will help to identify, recruit, train, and retain qualified researchers in academic careers in the oral health and craniofacial sciences. A central focus of this proposal is the recruitment of highly qualified candidates into flexible training programs that will provide researchers with long-term success in the future. The second focus is to provide additional training opportunities for current faculty. The key features of this training program are an innovative multidisciplinary basic science curriculum that is based upon the mechanisms of human disease, a flexible curriculum in the oral sciences that links trainees from various biomedical programs, and a long-term plan to mentor trainees for careers in academic research.
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