This proposed training program at the University of Washington is a competing renewal of an existing T32 training grant on Comprehensive Training in Interdisciplinary Oral Health Research, but it technically is being submitted as a new proposal in response to PAR-10-170 for T90/R90 programs, which allows for a limited number of non-citizen postdoctoral trainees. The Comprehensive Training in Interdisciplinary Oral Health Research program has successfully created a comprehensive program that covers a broad spectrum of interdisciplinary oral health research areas. Research areas included are public health, behavioral, and clinical, as well as basic and translational. The multidisciplinary Department of Oral Health Sciences (OHS) in the School of Dentistry serves as the focal point for the program, providing core content for all trainees. Other participating departments include Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Health Services in the School of Public Health. Focal areas in basic and translational sciences include microbial-host interactions and immunology; craniofacial biology, development and disease; orofacial structure and function; and stem cell biology/tissue regeneration. Long-term training programs are included at both pre-doctoral and postdoctoral levels. Long-term pre-doctoral training (7 positions) is offered through PhD programs in all four participating departments, and includes the DDS/PhD program offered through the Oral Biology Graduate Program in OHS. Long-term postdoctoral training (4 to 8 positions per year) is offered for PhD's working on oral health research topics, as well as for dentists seeking additional research training and experience. Included are 2 long term postdoctoral positions designated for non-citizen dentists interested in advanced research training in preparation for a research career, particularly in U.S. schools of dentistry. The pool f non-citizen dentist candidates for these new positions is enhanced by the list of 465 faculties from dental schools in 30 U.S. states and 43 foreign countries who have attended the Summer Institute in Clinical Dental Research Methods over the past 20 years. The Program Director, Dr. Timothy DeRouen, has extensive experience in administration of research and training programs, primarily in public health and clinical research; the Co- Director, Dr. Douglas Ramsay, is a clinician-scientist, NIH-funded principal investigator and Chair of the Department of Oral Health Sciences; and the Associate Director, Dr. Richard Presland, has research and administrative experience in basic and translational research areas.
This training grant includes trainees working in a broad spectrum of oral health research, from basic and translational biological research, to clinical, public health and behavioral research. By definition and design, at least half of the trainees of this training program work directly in oral public health research (epidemiology, biostatistics, health services, dental public health sciences), so the relevance to public health is self-evident. Even those working in basic science areas are steered to topics that potentially translate into clinical and public health applications so that the health of the public will eventually be impacte.
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