The Research Center serves to promote a research culture at the School of Dentistry and supervises research efforts undertaken by faculty and students.

The goal of the Center is to advance the search for scientific knowledge with a special emphasis on the oral health disparities that disproportionately affect the Puerto Rican population. To achieve this goal, research efforts focus on caries and oral cancer. Furthermore, the Center actively develops and coordinates activities that augment the research skills of UPRSD faculty and students.

The Research Center is located on the main floor of the Medical Sciences Campus Building. The 1500 square feet facilities include three dental chairs and office space for researchers and administrative support personnel. Office space and a conference room occupy 600 square feet of additional space in the lower level of the Dental School. The Center is fully equipped with computer terminals connected to the Medical Sciences Campus Center, videodiscs, audiovisual aids, and state of the art methods for the detection of caries technology.

        The Research Center is presently allocated with 12 faculty members, with protected times ranging from 20-80%, for the conduct of research related activities, including the development of research skills. The Research Center is organized into four “cores” to support its associated programs and activities: administrative, informatics/ biostatistics, research programs and development, and external supporting programs.

         The Administrative Core, under the direct supervision of the Assistant Dean, supports the overall administrative and programmatic activities. Consists of two business officers, a clinical center coordinator and the program coordinators.

     The Informatics/Biostatistics Core advises and trains faculty and students in study design and methodology for the conduct of scientific research. This Core’s available resources include an oral epidemiologist, statistician, medical bioinformatics expert, editor and research assistant.

  The External Supporting Programs Core enhances and expands the support for research.  Additional fiscal support for pilot studies, equipment, and faculty and student development is obtained from Corporate funding, RCMI, CRC, and CCHD.

The Research Program Activities encompasses three areas plus the Dental Public Health Unit.

• Researchers’ Development Pipeline: exposes high school, college, undergraduate dental and post graduate students to an array of research related activities and experiences;
  
• Oral Cancer: the NIDCR NYU: RAAHP (U54) conducts research investigating the etiology of oral cancer with a primary emphasis on the Puerto Rican population;
  
• Cariology: funding provided by the NIDCR UPR: Project RIPCOHD (U-24) supports the capacity building and infrastructure development of the UPRSD through research initiatives focusing on early childhood caries;
  
• Corporate Research: incorporating the conduct of four clinical trials provides junior faculty with the opportunity to gain valuable clinical research time.

Development Pipeline Core

High School students are encouraged to participate in school town or state Annual Scientific Fairs and present their projects at national and international meetings.
Junior and Senior undergraduate students majoring in biology at the University of Puerto Rico are offered an elective 3 credit course in research at the UPRSD. Generally, the participating students have an interest in pursuing a career in Dentistry or Medicine. Each year 8 to 10 students enroll in the course; the popularity is the Dental School environment and the interaction with dental students and faculty.
Students from UPR and other universities in Puerto Rico are encouraged to participate on a voluntary basis as research assistants in clinical and epidemiological research projects at the UPRSD.
UPRSD Research Center coordinates a Summer Research Experience abroad (6-10 weeks), a three credit elective course, for first and third year dental students. The partnering research intensive Universities in the USA have NRSA Short-term Training Grants specifically allocated for the training of minority students. Over the past seven years students have conducted research coordinated or mentored by NIH funded research scientists at University of Rochester, Boston University, New York University, University of California San Francisco, University of Maryland and University of Minnesota. Upon completion of this summer research experience, a mentor from UPRSD assists the student in an abstract preparation for a poster or oral presentation. Students are further required to present the research project at one of the following meetings: the American Association for Dental Research, International Association of Dental Research, the Research Forum of the UPR Medical Sciences Campus, the Annual Scientific Meeting of the Puerto Rico Dental Society or the local American Student Dental Association meeting.
Graduate dental students in the Pediatric Dentistry, Prosthodontics, Orthodontics and Oral Surgery Residency Programs are encouraged to pursue a Master in Science of Dentistry (MSD) offered at UPRSD. Faculty and researchers from the Research Center coordinate and instruct the statistics and research design courses, as well as serve as mentors for the graduate students enrolled in the Program.