For Immediate Use
July XX, 2012
UCLA School of Dentistry Receives $5 Million from
National Institutes of Health to Train Future
Oral Health Research Leaders
Brianna Deane,
(310) 206-0835
The National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) of the National Institutes for Health (NIH) recently awarded the UCLA School of Dentistry a 5-year training grant for $5 million. The grant was awarded to the School to create a comprehensive research-training program to help develop the next generation of dentist-scientists and oral health-researchers.
This is the fourth cycle and third renewal of this training grant for the School that was first awarded in 1997. The grant creates a pipeline for future dentist-scientists and oral health-researchers who will eventually go onto become scientific leaders in the oral health field and advance the dental profession. A new feature to this research training grant, called the “T32, T90/R90,” is that foreign dentists can benefit from the NIH funds whereas in prior grant cycles, only U.S. citizens and permanent residents could participate in the training programs.
“This grant renewal is exciting because it allows us to open up the trainee positions to an international pool of dentists,” says Dr. David Wong, Felix and Mildred Yip Endowed Professor, Division of Oral Biology and Medicine and the Associate Dean of Research. “This grant echoes the overall culture and environment of the UCLA School of Dentistry, as we are known throughout the world as a leader for academic excellence and many talented, foreign dentists come here to obtain a PhD or do postdoctoral training.”
The program contains numerous training tracks, including a dentist-scientist training program that is designed for dentists pursuing a PhD degree. These individuals can then go on to do postdoctoral work with the intention of becoming a research-committed faculty member. The other tracks are for oral health-researchers, which are designed for individuals who are either pursuing a PhD or postdoctoral training.
Trainees accepted to the programs will have the opportunity to be mentored by current faculty members in the four different areas where the School has its centers of excellence – oral cancer and cancer biology, bone biology and bioengineering, microbiology and immunology, and stem cell and regenerative medicine.
“This grant is an unprecedented opportunity for dentists who have the desire to go on to become researchers and scientists,” says Dean No-Hee Park, UCLA School of Dentistry. “Some of our past trainees that have come out of previous NIH grants are now full-time faculty members whose work is impacting the oral health field on a regional, national and even international level.”
The UCLA School of Dentistry is dedicated to improving the oral health of the people of California, the nation and the world through its teaching, research, patient care and public service initiatives. The School provides education and training programs that develop leaders in dental education, research, the profession and the community; conducts research programs that generate new knowledge, promote oral health and investigate the cause, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of oral disease in an individualized disease-prevention and management model; and delivers patient-centered oral health care to the community and the state.
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