We are seeking Concept Clearance for a Request for Applications (RFA) to enhance fundamental training in clinical research related to oral, dental, and craniofacial research.
Recent scientific advances have the potential to promote rapid transition from the research bench to applied preventive, diagnostic, and therapeutic modalities. In this “post-genomic era,” translational and clinical research play an important role in bringing laboratory observations into the clinical setting. This new research paradigm requires an interdisciplinary team approach, with well-trained clinical researchers as integral team members and leaders.
A shortage of clinical researchers spans the health professions. However, it seems more acute in oral health research due to fewer dentists choosing further research training. The growing chasm between research opportunities and numbers of trained clinical researchers has been recognized and documented through numerous reports, providing a framework for the NIH to stimulate clinical research training and career development opportunities for clinical researchers. These existing training opportunities include individual Career Development Awards (K-series awards), but also the Clinical Research Curriculum Development Award (K30), created to assist academic health centers in developing a core curriculum and mentoring for training clinical investigators. While these programs provide a sound basis for an infrastructure and mechanism for clinical research training, they have not been fully utilized by oral health researchers, particularly dentist scientists. Although available mechanisms have addressed critical gaps in clinical research training, persistent barriers exist for training clinical researchers in oral, dental, and craniofacial research. For example, lack of salary support and lack of access to mentors and available programs impede clinical research training in oral, dental, and craniofacial topics.
The objective of this initiative is to develop a program to enhance fundamental training in clinical research for all members of the clinical research team. The envisioned program is institution-based and designed to facilitate clinical research training of all members of the clinical research team. Incentives to strengthen partnerships among schools in academic health centers and to foster training of clinical researchers in oral, dental, and craniofacial research would be provided