RSDM Hosts Its First Research Retreat
Rutgers School of Dental Medicine (RSDM) held its first annual Research Retreat on August 8. RSDM researchers and faculty gathered in the Oral Health Pavilion to exchange ideas, explore collaboration opportunities, and share insights.
“When you start getting involved in projects, there's this fire that gets kindled and you want to just keep seeing it grow and grow,” said Dean Cecile A. Feldman in her opening remarks. Feldman has been the recipient of several research grants, including an $11.7 million National Institutes of Health funding to study alternatives to opioids. “For those active in research right now, we know how stimulating it could be. And for those that are just interested … I think you'll also find that it really is incredibly exciting to get involved in an activity to try to discover or create new knowledge.”
Chair of the Oral Biology Department Daniel Fine and Associate Dean for Research Narayanan Ramasubbu talked about research and resources at RSDM. “If you're interested in clinical research, we can assist you in your research avenues that you might want to pursue,” said Fine to the faculty. “We've outstanding geneticists, ecologists, epidemiologists, regenerative biologists, microbiology, and almost anything.” The Department of Oral Biology has also been collaborating with scholars throughout Rutgers as well as external partners.
RSDM’s new Director of Research Georgios Kotsakis also took the floor. “RSDM has a great reputation at a national level for clinical research, primarily because of the large clinical research that the Dean has and her ability to complete that,” he noted. In his short one month, he has been meeting with RSDM faculty to get to know them and their work. “I found out that there's immense activity in clinical research. A lot goes into organizing that and creating a system for collaboration, for becoming more extroverted in dissemination and presentation, and further strengthening the [school’s] reputation.”
The retreat continued with open table discussions led by faculty researchers.
