Dentistry awarded $5 million for research center

November 4, 2008

The National Institute of Health recently announced a five-year, $5.3 million grant to the University of Florida College of Dentistry. The grant will fund a new research center aimed at reducing disparities in head and neck cancer survival through prevention and early detection in low-income, minority men.

The center will be located at the College of Dentistry in Gainesville. Programs will extend to satellite clinics and rural locations throughout the state. This is the first NIH-funded center in the Southeast to focus on head and neck cancer.

The new multidisciplinary center includes faculty from several colleges and incorporates participatory research techniques involving community members.

A ceremony at the Seminole Campus of St. Petersburg College on Oct. 22 marked the new center. Participants included U.S. Rep. “C.W.” Bill Young, a longtime supporter of UF dentistry, and St. Petersburg College’s President Carl M. Kuttler Jr., who was instrumental in establishing a UF satellite dental clinic in St. Petersburg.