Oral Biology

Program Overview and Mission Statement

The primary responsibility of dental schools is to educate students to become clinically competent dentists, academicians and scholars. Within the context of scholarship one of the paramount responsibilities of dental education should be to train dental researchers. Unfortunately, the training of basic researchers in dental areas has lagged far behind research training in other clinical areas. Indeed, the U.S. Surgeon General’s Report on Oral Health in America has concluded that the nation’s dental schools must assume leadership roles not only in dental education but also in dental research.

Although research is accepted as a fundamental mission of dental education, many dental schools are only minimally involved in research. There are a number of reasons for this, the primary ones being limited funding for dental research, and a dearth of capable researchers. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) has emphasized that dental schools must move closer to the academic research model currently followed by medical schools and some academic health centers.

The NJDS PhD program in Oral Biology is specifically designed to address the issues related to the shortage of research faculty in dental sciences The key reason for this shortage results from a significant number of open, unfilled positions in the basic sciences coupled with an existing science faculty that is aging and will retire shortly, thereby creating an even more urgent need. Our program addresses this shortage by providing research trained individuals who will be in a position to enrich the educational experience of dental students, strengthen the stature of dentistry within the university and provide building blocks for the future that can change the way in which dentistry is practiced. The NJDS-PhD program in Oral Biology is the only program in the State of New Jersey that offers a PhD degree with an emphasis on dental research.

Research interests:

• Infectious diseases of the mouth
• Immunology of oral diseases
• Human molecular genetics
• Animal models of oral diseases
• Biochemistry of salivary proteins
• Bacterial attachment and biofilm formation
• Translational research

Program/Admissions Director  

Dr. Scott Kachlany  
(973) 972-3057
Email: kachlasc@umdnj.edu

For more information: http://sdm.rutgers.edu/departments/oral-biology/oral-biology-phd.html