Comprehensive Oral Health Research Center of Discovery

At their board meeting March 31, 1998 the board of directors of the Baylor Oral Health Foundation voted to provide matching/complimentary funds in support of the Comprehensive Oral Health Research Center of Discovery (COHRCD). Dr. David Carlson, Chairman of the Biomedical Sciences at Baylor College of Dentistry submitted a grant application to the National Institutes of Health in May 1998. The College was one of 15 institutions to receive a planning grant and the only one in the Southwest. The matching/complimentary funds from the foundation helped Dr. Carlson meet one of the criteria to advance to the next stage of acceptance which is to demonstrate the ability to leverage funding from other sources, including private foundations and industry. The theme of the COHRCD is environmental factors related to inherited and acquired deformities of the craniofacial region. The proposed COHRCD rests on a foundation of multidisciplinary collaborations within a broad consortium of biomedical scientists, clinicians, educators, and community leaders at numerous institutions throughout the state of Texas. Especially noteworthy are the close collaborations between highly diverse groups of basic scientists, clinical scientists, and clinicians who are interested in normal and abnormal craniofacial development with groups of environmental and public health scientists associated with the Center for Environmental and Rural Health at Texas A&M University. Three primary foci characterize the major components of research, community outreach, and education that make up the COHRCD: 1) basic molecular/genetic mechanisms of craniofacial morphogenesis and growth; 2) environmental influences on craniofacial deformities; and 3) biopsychosocial aspects of craniofacial disorders.