For many years the National Institutes of Health have supported training programs. Although most of these have gone to individuals with a basic science orientation, there is a new emphasis on clinical research and the transfer of information to patient care. Dentists and orthodontists are very much eligible for support through these training programs.
The NIH programs fall into two main categories: training programs, supported through T- awards to universities, and career development programs, supported through K- awards either to individuals or to universities.
In dentistry at the moment, there are two T-32 award programs that focus on clinical research training for dentists, one at UNC supervised by Dr. Beck and the other at UC San Francisco. In addition, quite a few medical schools have what are called T- mega-awards that support training at that school in a number of different areas. Dentists are eligible for support in some but not all of those areas.
The goal of the T-32 program at UNC is the development of "clinical scientists" who are expected to work directly with patients to evaluate the effectiveness of diagnosis and treatment, and improve patient care. A place in this program was offered last year to an orthodontist who decided not to accept it, a place has been reserved next year for an individual currently in his third year of an orthodontic residency at another school, and a second orthodontist (also at another school) is a candidate for support next year. The program at UCSF also would accept orthodontist applicants (don't know whether it has an orthodontist in the program at present). Training of this type would be highly valuable in competing for future research support.
There are several varieties of K- awards. These go to people (usually junior faculty) who have completed clinical training and have at least some research experience, with the goal of helping them develop into successful applicants for research grants of their own. K-12 and K-30 awards are made to universities, which then select applicants. UNC has a large K-12 program, and one current dental faculty member (not in orthodontics) is supported through it. Individuals in the UNC T-32 program, and also others from the dental school who are interested in clinical research, take advantage of mini-courses offered through the K-12 program.
K-23 awards are to individuals, who have applied directly to NIH, with support from specific faculty. At UNC the Dept. of Orthodontics currently has two young faculty on K-23 awards, and it is likely that a third young orthodontic faculty member will be funded soon on a K-23 award. This mechanism is available to orthodontic faculty at any school.
A new program, currently labeled as K-0099, is a two-part award. The first part is for research training, the second part goes with the awardee to a faculty position after the training is completed to provide continuing research support. It's new enough that there's no record of dentists or orthodontists being involved, but it is clear that they could be. Orthodontic departments should be aware of clinical research training through these programs, and should be prepared to cooperate with faculty outside the clinical department to take advantage of these opportunities.