Research Fellowship Program

The Jeffrey A. Dean/ American Board of Pediatric Dentistry (ABPD) Research Fellowship program is a one-year, part-time program that positions early career dentists, and others with relevant advanced degrees, as future health care leaders.

The program facilitates research in areas relevant to dentist assessment, performance and quality improvement, continuing professional development, and initial and continuing board certification.

Working with a mentor of their choosing at their home institution, research fellows will develop and conduct a research project relevant to dentist assessment, certification, dentist lifelong learning and continuing professional development, improvement in dental practice and performance, or health care policy. Research fellows will disseminate their work, at either national conference or meeting, or by submission to a peer reviewed journal.

Fellowship Support

Award $15,000 to institutions designated by research fellows to offset direct costs of research, professional development expenses, and travel costs associated with program participation.

Jeffrey A. Dean/ ABPD Research Fellowship Program Benefits

  • Support research that brings value to research fellows and their respective organizations.
  • Discover an enhanced understanding of continuous certification, quality improvement, patient outcomes and professional development, and inform on those findings.
  • Provide national recognition and dissemination of the research.

Who Can Apply?

  • Application is open to early career pediatric dentists and junior faculty members.  Individuals who hold a master’s or doctorate degree in public health, or are engaged in health care research, public health administration and policy, and other relevant disciplines may also apply.
  • Applicants should have a project that is ongoing or ready to begin and an institutional research mentor selected. The project may build on existing research at the applicant’s institution and should help advance initial and continuing certification.

Application Requirement and Process

The 2023 - 2024 application is now open and will close May 16. Research fellows will need to submit a completed application, including:

  • Research project description including research questions, plan, budget, expected outcomes, and timeline.
  • Personal statement describing applicant’s interests and goals for program participation
  • Two letters of support: one from the applicant’s research mentor; and one from the applicant’s department chair, associate dean/assistant dean, residency program director, or other supervisor
  • Current CV.

Jeffrey A. Dean/ ABPD Research Fellows are selected on the quality of their proposed project, the likelihood of making substantial progress on the project during the scholar year, and on their project’s relevance to dentist assessment, patient care quality improvement, and performance improvement.

Click here to apply

Jeffrey A. Dean/ ABPD Inaugural Research Fellowship Q&A

Watch Jeffrey A. Dean/ ABPD Research Fellowship Review Committee, Drs. Gregory Olson and Man Wai Ng, discuss the Fellowship and answer questions.