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(Last updated 10/1/01)
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NEW GRANT SEEKS TO BOOST DECLINING NUMBERS OF DENTAL RESEARCHERS
COLUMBUS - Ohio State University has launched a new training initiative that aims to bolster the dwindling numbers of academic dental researchers.
The National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, part of the National Institutes of Health, awarded Ohio State's College of Dentistry a five-year, $3.6 million grant for the Comprehensive Training in Oral and Craniofacial Sciences program.
"We're currently short about 300 to 400 faculty to fill open slots in the 55 dental schools in the United States. That shortage is likely to increase by the end of the decade, " said Phillip Marucha, an associate professor in the College of Dentistry at Ohio State and the project's principal investigator.
The point of this new training grant is to encourage a range of highly qualified candidates - from dental students to practicing dentists - to explore academic careers in research.
"There is a chronic shortage of oral health researchers and teachers," Marucha said. "If we're going to move dentistry into the 21st century, we need to have scientists that continue to move dentistry along."
The training program focuses on oral health and brings together scientists from programs and departments across campus, including the integrated biomedical sciences graduate program, as well as students in neuroscience and biomedical engineering and those on the M.D./Ph.D. track.
The grant combines several training programs already under way in the College of Dentistry. It includes short-term summer research opportunities for dental students, support for students pursuing the combined dentistry and Ph.D degrees, training for faculty to improve their research skills, Ph.D. training in oral biology and affiliated programs and support for postdoctoral fellows.
"We have faculty that have no research experience at all, as clinical dentistry is hands-on training," Marucha said. "This grant will provide some of our clinicians the opportunity to get research experience. By combining training opportunities, we can identify, recruit, train and hold on to qualified researchers in dentistry.
"One problem with the former training programs has been that they often didn't attract enough students. Now we have the flexibility to fill the spots with the people we have, rather than trying to find people to fit into a defined spot."
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Contact: Phillip Marucha, ctoc@osu.edu;
Meghan Fox, 614-292-3562
Written by Holly Wagner, (614) 292-8310; Wagner.235@osu.edu