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BACKGROUND
The Milton & Renée Glass Family Fellowship in Jaw Joints and Allied Musculo-Skeletal Research was established in 2005 at The Forsyth Institute. The Fellowship honors Milton L. Glass who has served as a vital member of the Board of Directors and the Board of Trustees at the Institute since 1986, including his outstanding leadership as President/Chairman during the years 1991 through 1999. The Fellowship also recognizes the dedication of his wife, Renée Glass, not only to Forsyth through all those years, but also together with Milton, to the cause of TEMPOROMANDIBULAR JOINT AND MUSCLE DISEASES/ DISORDERS, CONDITIONS FOR WHICH THERE EXISTS TODAY NO TRULY SUCCESSFUL TREATMENT, NO MEDICAL/DENTAL SPECIALTY OR DISCIPLINE THAT HAS TAKEN RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR TREATMENT, NO CLEAR UNDERSTANDING OF THEIR CAUSE(S) AND ETIOLOGY, ALONG WITH A VIRTUAL ABSENCE OF SCIENTIFICALLY VALID RESEARCH. Success in this mission will create knowledge and understanding of TMJD that will be of invaluable use to the medical/dental specialties, government, health insurers, and, ultimately, the general public.
In 1983 Dr. John W. Hein, Director of the
Milton and Renée Glass have been tireless advocates for the cause of TMJD, and have worked through many, many different vectors both to raise the attention of the public to the problems of TMJD and to raise government budgetary recognition of the need to support TMJD research. Citing only one of many accomplishments of Milton and Renée they were pivotally instrumental in establishing the NIH TMJD Interagency Working Group that has called for strategic interagency support of TMJ research, including direct TMJD research and co- morbidity issues. Through this Group, multidisciplinary research on TMJD has been identified as critical to solving this debilitating problem, and such research has been encouraged throughout NIH. This Fellowship is a critical component of The Forsyth Institutes institutional program for training postdoctoral fellows. The Fellowship is counted among other similarly established fellowships, including the John W. Hein Fellowship, the Ronald J. Gibbons Memorial Fellowship, and the NIDCR Institutional Training Program in Oral Biology.
THE FELLOWSHIP
The Fellowship will be awarded to an individual for one year, with the possibility of extending the award for a total of three years, depending on performance. A stipend shall be paid commensurate with the fellow’s professional development, based on The Forsyth Institutes standard postdoctoral fellow stipend scale. It is expected that the majority of the fellows research will be conducted at The Forsyth Institute, although components of the research may be conducted off-site based on the orientation of the research. IN ADDITION TO THE CONDUCT OF THE RESEARCH PROGRAM ITSELF, THE FELLOW WILL BE EXPECTED TO PARTICIPATE IN COMMENSURATE RESEARCH ACTIVITIES SUCH AS SCIENTIFIC MEETINGS, SEMINAR PROGRAMS, AND WRITING RESEARCH PAPERS. HE/SHE ALSO WILL LEARN THE SKILLS OF PREPARING AND SUBMITTING GRANT APPLICATIONS, WITH THE GOAL OF HELPING THE FELLOW TO BECOME AN INDEPENDENT RESEARCH INVESTIGATOR. Intrinsic to this Fellowship is the potential that the fellow may be considered for a permanent position at The Forsyth Institute if his/her performance is exemplary and if the research he/she conducts is within the overall strategic plans of The Forsyth Institute. For such inclusion into Forsyth’s overall research endeavor, sustaining funding must be secured for this extended program. As with other similar growth programs, this is a way of introducing a research area into The Forsyth Institute research milieu. The postdoctoral fellow shall have all the rights and responsibilities of all other postdoctoral fellows at The Forsyth Institute, and shall be expected to participate in all postdoctoral fellow activities at the Institute.
THE SELECTION PROCESS
The availability of this Fellowship shall be announced using the regular advertising and promotional methods used by Forsyth to solicit postdoctoral fellowship applicants for all its available awards. The candidates considered for this Fellowship shall hold a doctoral degree in a biomedical-related field (Ph.D., Sc.D., M.D., D.P.H., or equivalent). The candidates approaching this fellowship opportunity should recognize the systemic nature of TMJ diseases/disorders and be interested in conducting research unencumbered by stereotype positions on these important health issues. The fellow, upon completion of his/her program, will be well-experienced in the areas of research that he/she had pursued concerning craniofacial development as related directly to TMJ Diseases/Disorders, will have a greater understanding and appreciation of Temporomandibular joints and related or overlapping disorders/disease, and will be in a position to carry that experience and knowledge into new and additional efforts to address this debilitating health disorder as it affects the craniofacial complex and total body health. A Selection Committee comprising two Senior Members of the Staff and one Associate Member of the Staff at Forsyth (to be appointed by the President) shall select the candidate from among all the applicants for the position. The donors, Milton and Renée Glass, may serve as consultants to the Committee for the selection process with a view towards reflecting the mission of the fellowship in its broadest context as stated herein. The President may appoint as ad hoc members of the Committee non-Forsyth individuals to provide special expertise in the selection process. The selection process by the Committee shall include a pre-review of all submitted CVs, selection of appropriate candidates from that pre-review, a more thorough review of the resulting CVs, certifying backgrounds and previous academic experiences, at least one in-person interview, and, when possible, a seminar presentation at Forsyth by each applicant on some aspect of his/her research efforts.
THE COMMITTEE WILL IDENTIFY A
THE RESEARCH
The research is to be conducted at the highest level of scientific proficiency in clinical, laboratory, or clinical-laboratory combined environments. The research may be hypothesis-driven or be based on subjective observations. IT IS CLEAR THAT SCIENTIFIC UNDERSTANDINGS IN THE FIELD OF CRANIOFACIAL DEVELOPMENT, AND THE MORE SPECIFIC TMJ DISEASES/DISORDERS, ARE IN THEIR INFANCY IN TERMS OF BIOMEDICAL KNOWLEDGE. The amorphous nature of even the definition of TMJ Diseases informs that much research needs to be done in broad areas of medicine and biology to gain appropriate understandings that will lead ultimately to eradication of diseases. Therefore, the research of this fellowship, with its Rigorously Scientific Collection Of Data, may involve physiology, pathology, biochemistry, developmental biology, clinical observations, model systems and developments, computer modeling, therapeutic development, etiologic studies, in vivo measurements, demographic pursuits, bioinformatics, population evaluations, epidemiology, statistics, collection of comprehensive medical and dental patient data collected through surveys, patient histories, or any other area of biomedical research that can be shown to have ties to cranio-facial development research with particular emphasis on TMJ diseases/disorders and their prevention. THE FELLOWSHIP INITIALLY WILL EXPLORE GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE JAW JOINTS. The insight gained may lead subsequently to exploration of the diseases/disorders of Temporomandibular Joints and overlapping or co-morbid health disorders associated with these conditions. Ultimately, the effect of these conditions on total body health will become known, and cures will be perfected.
A
IN ADDITION, THE FELLOW, TOGETHER WITH THE
Adopted by the Forsyth Institute Board of Trustees April 26, 2005