This Clinical Orofacial Research Training (CORT) proposal draws on the rich clinical and research resources and expertise that are the hallmark of the University of California San Francisco (UCSF). Building on our successes in developing leading research training programs for scholars and junior faculty within the School of Dentistry as well as within UCSF's other three professional schools, we will train the clinician-scientists who will become leaders in oral & craniofacial and dental research. We have developed a comprehensive and structured program that will provide rich clinical research training in four clinical pathways: 1) dental-scientist training pathway (DSTP), 2) postdoctoral fellowships (post DDS, post DDS-PhD), 3) intercalated PhD for specialist trainees, and 4) short-term training for i) career re-engineering of clinical faculty and ii) summer research training for dental students. We will partner with an already existing and highly successful clinical research training program based in the UCSF School of Medicine (Training in Clinical Research, TICR) to create a unique cross-disciplinary integrated clinical training experience tailored to each of the four pathways. The program will offer flexibility with multiple portals of entry for scholars at each developmental stage including exploration, retooling, and retraining. By offering these components, we will meet the needs of both the scholars and the oral health research community, providing training that assures continuing access to cutting-edge science, state-of-the-art research tools, and the innovative, cross-disciplinary, team-based perspectives required by today's complex scientific problems. Outstanding scientific and clinical mentors will guide each scholar;and mentors and scholars will be linked to form a partnership providing programs tailored to meet individual and diverse needs. The four specific aims of the CORT program will be: 1) To play a leadership role in increasing and enhancing the pipeline of clinician academic dental &oral scientists and in dissemination of educational and research methods;2) To provide multidisciplinary clinical research training pathways for dental students, dentists and dental specialist Scholar: 3) To provide mentoring and guide career development for CORT Scholars;and 4) To evaluate and enhance the program's performance and effectiveness.
