This application is a request for funds from the NIDCR to support the development of an infrastructure improvement plan to enhance the oral health research infrastructure and workforce capacity at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) and its College of Dental Medicine. The planning grant is timely, permitting the college to leverage existing opportunities and define its functional and organizational structure. The goal of the Infrastructure Improvement Plan is threefold: to improve the oral health research infrastructure within MUSC and its College of Dental Medicine; to strengthen oral health research capabilities by recruiting and retaining research personnel, with special emphasis on underrepresented minorities; and to establish intra- and inter-institutional linkages that augment and expand the college's oral health research capacity. Short-term objectives are: to develop processes and methods to assess needs, opportunities, and capacity to conduct oral health-related research, including determination of current barriers to research; to select particular areas for oral health research development and enhancement; to formulate a strategy aimed at a Phase II, two-year implementation plan in which the capability of the College of Dental Medicine to conduct scientifically meritorious oral health research is significantly strengthened. The long-term objective is to enhance the oral health research infrastructure at MUSC and its College of Dental Medicine, with the goal of establishing specialized centers of research, poised to compete nationally, in partnership with other academic units, for individual research project grants, program projects, shared instrumentation, research training awards, and center grants in areas relevant to the mission of NIDCR.
