Building Partnerships and Interdisciplinary Collaborations in Oral Health Research

Schools of dentistry in large health science centers, while offering excellent education programs, often fail to attain high levels of research for several reasons, including 1) a limited number of faculty who become consumed by the school’s teaching mission to the extent that major research is not possible; and 2) faculty often come from the ranks of practitioners and are not necessarily trained for, or have had direct experience in biomedical research. Continuing dental research not only adds to the general knowledge base, but is critical to constant improvement in human oral health. Partnerships among universities, industry, and governmental agencies are increasingly essential for effective translational research. Two models that characterize the organization of research units within universities are discussed: the distributed model, in which individual researchers are assigned throughout the units of the schools, often in various departments, and the localized model, in which most of the researchers are assigned to one unit or department. Furthermore, characteristics of successful oral biology departments are presented in an effort to understand their success, including recruitment of faculty with scientific backgrounds, development of rigorous graduate programs, well-defined responsibility for undergraduate or professional teaching obligations, and the development of a group of sufficient size to allow for interaction and support in research and teaching. Lessons learned from successful oral biology departments in dental schools can likely be applied to comparable units of academic health centers. The well-known central mission of most universities revolves around teaching, research, and service. In most universities, teaching and research are essential, and service often serves, or is a byproduct of, the teaching and research missions. Large universities with health science centers, which include not only medical schools and university hospitals, but also smaller units such as schools of dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, and health-related professions, often find themselves lacking in research activity in these smaller units. Schools of dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, and health-related professions often offer excellent education programs, but fail to attain high levels of research. There are many reasons for this difficulty in attaining significant research activity in these small units of university health centers. For example, the teaching mission of the small professional school consumes its limited faculty to the extent that major research by a significant number of these faculty members is not possible. Another factor is that faculty in these small professional schools often come from the ranks of practitioners and, although they are often excellent teachers, they are not necessarily trained for, or have had direct experience in biomedical research. We have witnessed the closing of several schools of dentistry, and a common feature in most of these recent closings is the lack of active, growing research activities exhibited by these schools. Other reasons are often given for the closing of dental schools, such as lack of sufficient high-quality applicants and the high cost of operations. However, it is clear that lack of significant research programs at a level comparable to or even approaching those seen in medical schools or other units of the university often contributes to the perception that these professional schools are not fully contributing to the central missions of the university. This, coupled with high costs and lack of qualified applicants, makes these smaller units targets for closure, especially during difficult financial times. It is clear that it is important to many universities that all of the health science units contribute significantly to the scholarship and research activities of the university, as well as to teaching and service.