Clinical Research & Epidemiology Program
Overview
The Clinical Research and Epidemiology Program promotes research that aims to advance knowledge in prevention, diagnosis, and clinical management of dental, oral, and craniofacial diseases and conditions. This program supports rigorous applied study designs and statistical analyses of dental, oral, and craniofacial diseases and disorders to improve patient and population health. Examples of supported research include:
- Establishing the natural history of poorly understood genetic or acquired dental, oral, and craniofacial disorders
- Identifying and characterizing risk and protective factors, as well as pathways for the clinical development or progression of dental, oral, and craniofacial diseases and disorders
- Detecting, preventing, and controlling dental, oral, and craniofacial diseases in relation to genetic or environmental exposures; local, regional or systemic diseases or conditions; or clinical treatments (e.g., local, regional, or systemic oncologic therapies)
- Assessing accuracy, reproducibility, costs, risks, and benefits of clinical screening for medical conditions or environmental exposures by dental professionals
- Conducting comparative safety and effectiveness studies of dental, oral, or craniofacial disease approaches (e.g., screening, diagnostic tests, precision dentistry, biomarker-based studies, or treatments)
- Clinically identifying and validating existing or new methodologies to accurately and consistently measure and document clinical onset and progression of dental, oral, and craniofacial diseases and disorders
- Developing cutting-edge statistical methods to analyze dental, oral, and craniofacial data
- Analyzing existing databases relevant to dental, oral, or craniofacial health or practice (e.g., integrated medical, geospatial, laboratory, pharmacy, and dental records)
- Retrospectively analyzing existing human data, images, samples, or study results (e.g., meta-analyses) obtained from epidemiologic studies, such as clinical trials, clinical prospective cohorts, or population-based studies, to answer new research hypotheses relevant to dental, oral, and craniofacial health
- Performing economic analyses to systematically evaluate the costs, benefits, and impact of clinical detection, prevention, and treatment of dental, oral, and craniofacial diseases
- Designing and conducting observational research studies (e.g., prospective cohorts) of dental, oral, and craniofacial diseases
Related Resources
Staff Contacts
Director
Clinical Research & Epidemiology Program
Acting Director
HIV/AIDS & Oral Health Research Program