Media contact: Anna Jones
The University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Dentistry received $3.2 million from the National Institutes of Health as part of the National Research Service Award Institutional Research Training Grant. They will receive this funding over the course of the next five years.
The funding aims to address the critical shortage of dental academicians nationwide and recognizes the UAB Dental Academic Research Training program. The UAB DART program provides a broadened interdisciplinary research experience for exceptionally motivated trainees in a research-intensive and collaborative academic environment.
The funding renewal allows the pipeline program to continue educating future generations of dentists through its interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary nature of training that interacts with trainees across the school and campus. UAB 
Amjad Javed, Ph.D.DART is one of the few programs with a foreign-trained dentist track, that has a record of developing academicians and budding leaders in the field.
“Student mentorship and professional development is at the core of the School of Dentistry’s mission,” said Amjad Javed, Ph.D., who was recently named the school’s associate dean of Research. “The grant recognizes UAB’s excellence in research and teaching and will help us advance a cohesive approach to combat the nationwide shortage of dental academicians and further the school’s internationally recognized scientific expertise.”
In his role as the director of the DART program and associate dean of Research, Javed will lead an enterprise that consistently ranks among the top United States dental schools with research funding from the NIH. He will be responsible for advancing a cohesive research agenda, developing strategic collaborations to expand the school’s internationally recognized scientific expertise within its five core research themes, and positioning the dental school for continued national and international leadership in oral health research.