In Jackie Hom, the ADA Foundation and DENTSPLY thought they’d found the ideal candidate for their first dental research fellowship with the Student Clinicians-American Dental Association. However, this being a research fellowship, final judgment on the selection would be withheld until the fellowship was complete and all the data could be analyzed.

On June 29, 2007 Ms. Hom completed her SCADA fellowship at the prestigious ADA Paffenbarger Research Center in Gaithersburg Maryland. To the surprise of no one, the data confirms that the selection of Ms. Hom—the first Student Clinician to receive the research fellowship—was indeed spot on.

“The research experience was very positive,” explained Jackie. “I have never been exposed to an environment with such clinically-applicable dental research. It was an extraordinarily productive research environment, and every researcher that I interacted with had an open-minded perspective and aspired to conduct research with wide implications in public health and clinical dentistry.”

“I was introduced to cutting-edge materials, science research and learned to frame dental research within the larger field of biomaterials. My education extended far beyond the laboratory aspects of research. The most valuable lesson was about the process of performing research: from grant-writing to bench-top laboratory research and its translation to the clinical setting.”

Jackie describes her research project in that foreign language that only other scientists can truly appreciate.
“My research project was to incorporate transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) into a calcium phosphate scaffold made of nano hydroxyapatite materials (CPC). I measured TGF-beta release from the CPC scaffold as a function of immersion time and cultured osteoblast cells within the TGF-beta CPC scaffold to determine the effects of protein on cellular response,.” Ms. Hom explained.

Funded by the ADA Foundation, the SCADA program has its roots with a former DENTSPLY visionary. Created in 1959 at the ADA in New York City, Mr. Henry M. Thornton, then President of DENTSPLY International and Dr. Harold Hillenbrand, then Executive Director of the ADA initiated the first program as a joint venture. Since its inception, the program has expanded to cover 35 countries and has over 5,000 student participants.

Mr. Hom represented Harvard University School of Dental Medicine in the 2006 ADA/DENTSPLY Student Clinician Program. The ADA Foundation/DENTSPLY Dental Research Foundation was developed to expand research opportunities to their developing dental scientists as a next step in their careers. All Student Clinicians are eligible for the ADA Foundation/DENTSPLY Dental Research Fellowship. Ms, Hom was selected from among the 54 outstanding student clinicians in 2006.

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