Pacific-Stanford PRIMED Program: Training the next generation of clinical oral health researchers

Pacific-Stanford PRIMED Program Project Summary/Abstract Broad, Long-Term Objectives. Oral diseases and disorders in and of themselves affect health and well-being throughout life. Research is key to improving oral health, eliminating health disparities, and further reducing the burden of oral diseases and disorders. Unfortunately, a wide gap exists between biomedical research and clinical practice. While scientists constantly produce new knowledge relevant to oral disease prevention and clinical care, much of their work is never incorporated into practice. Similarly, clinical problems are rarely translated into research questions and projects. In addition, there have been growing concerns about the reduction in the clinician-scientist workforce, which may impact oral health scientific contributions as well as the pipeline of future oral health leaders. The goal of the Pacific- Stanford PRIMED Program is to train the next generation of clinical oral health researchers to effectively translate biomedical research to ensure optimal oral and general health outcomes. The specific aims and objectives of this program are to: 1. Provide personalized education in clinical research skills development for clinically-oriented faculty, dental alumni, and dental students/residents by leveraging resources through the Stanford CTSA program. 2. Engage and support research faculty and clinically-oriented faculty in intra- and inter-institutional collaborations at UOP and Stanford. 3. Create peer and student mentoring partnerships with bidirectional research partnerships between research faculty, clinically-oriented faculty, and dental students/residents at UOP and Stanford. 4. To carry out practice-based clinical research conducted in UOP and affiliated dental clinics with clinical faculty and students/residents participating in research conducted during the course of patient care. We will accomplish these goals by: (1) providing clinical research education for clinically-oriented faculty, dental alumni, and dental students/residents by leveraging Stanford CTSA program resources; (2) supporting research and clinically- oriented faculty in bidirectional intra- and inter-institutional collaborations at UOP and Stanford; (3) creating mentoring partnerships between research and clinically-oriented faculty, and dental students/residents at UOP and Stanford; and (4) conducting practice-based research where data and sample collection is integrated into clinical workflows, and is carried out during patient care in UOP dental school clinics, its affiliated clinic sites, and Stanford clinics.