Oral Health Research Infrastructure Planning at MUSC

描述(由申请人提供)：此申请是向NIDCR申请资金，以支持制定一项基础设施改善计划，以增强南卡罗来纳医科大学(MUSC)及其牙科医学院的口腔健康研究基础设施和劳动力能力。规划拨款是及时的，使学院能够利用现有的机会，并确定其职能和组织结构。基础设施改善计划的目标有三个：改善MUSC及其牙科医学院内的口腔健康研究基础设施；通过招聘和留住研究人员来加强口腔健康研究能力，特别重视代表性不足的少数族裔；以及建立机构内和机构间的联系，以增强和扩大学院的口腔健康研究能力。 短期目标是：制定程序和方法，评估进行口腔健康相关研究的需求、机会和能力，包括确定当前研究的障碍；选择口腔健康研究发展和加强的特定领域；制定一项旨在第二阶段、两年实施计划的战略，其中显著加强牙科医学院进行具有科学价值的口腔健康研究的能力。 长期目标是加强MUSC及其牙科医学院的口腔健康研究基础设施，目标是建立专门的研究中心，准备在与NIDCR使命相关的领域与其他学术单位合作，在全国范围内竞争个人研究项目拨款、计划项目、共享仪器、研究培训奖和中心赠款。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This application is a request for funds from the NIDCR to support the development of an infrastructure improvement plan to enhance the oral health research infrastructure and workforce capacity at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) and its College of Dental Medicine. The planning grant is timely, permitting the college to leverage existing opportunities and define its functional and organizational structure. The goal of the Infrastructure Improvement Plan is threefold: to improve the oral health research infrastructure within MUSC and its College of Dental Medicine; to strengthen oral health research capabilities by recruiting and retaining research personnel, with special emphasis on underrepresented minorities; and to establish intra- and inter-institutional linkages that augment and expand the college's oral health research capacity. Short-term objectives are: to develop processes and methods to assess needs, opportunities, and capacity to conduct oral health-related research, including determination of current barriers to research; to select particular areas for oral health research development and enhancement; to formulate a strategy aimed at a Phase II, two-year implementation plan in which the capability of the College of Dental Medicine to conduct scientifically meritorious oral health research is significantly strengthened. The long-term objective is to enhance the oral health research infrastructure at MUSC and its College of Dental Medicine, with the goal of establishing specialized centers of research, poised to compete nationally, in partnership with other academic units, for individual research project grants, program projects, shared instrumentation, research training awards, and center grants in areas relevant to the mission of NIDCR.