KOHII establishes a new infrastructure designed to support and advance clinical, translational, and health services research related to oral/systemic health, public health, and health disparities. The three innovations of the initiative include:

1. Integration: Building support for greater integration of oral health into local overall health service delivery systems.
2. Information: Fostering partnerships among community members and the university for the generation of new information and knowledge.
3. Research Leadership: Creating new education and training opportunities to develop future leaders in dental public health and translational research, and expanding the research workforce needed to realize the KOHII mission.

The overall structure aligns research initiatives with NIH-NIDCR strategic planning research priorities.

Three main goals guide KOHII’s current activities: 

1. Strengthen oral health disparities research and its integration with strategic health disparities research across the University of Kentucky;
2. Reduce related health disparities in the Commonwealth, and; 
3. Re-establish dental public health capacity at UK for sustainability and growth of these efforts. 

• Developing guidance to strengthen the ability of Kentucky's safety-net dental practices to provide safe oral healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic and future health crises.
• A cross-sectional study to evaluate early risk factors predisposing patients of different social and racial/ethnic backgrounds to caries and periodontal disease.
• Evaluating the role and impact of dental providers in education and recommendations regarding oropharyngeal cancers and HPV vaccination.
• Investigating opportunities for utilizing value-based metrics across the state's dental safety net system.
• Examining oral health inequities and their relationship to social vulnerabilities.
• Various additional projects aimed at promoting the integration of oral and overall health care centered on topics such as diabetes and maternal/child health.

• Minimizing Risks from COVID-19 in Dental Practices: This study aims to develop a web-based guidebook  to strengthen the ability of Kentucky’s safety-net dental practices to provide safe oral healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic and future health crises. Investigators: Dr. Kevin Pearce (UK College of Medicine), Dr. Daria Stone (UK College of Dentistry), Dr. Rick Ingram (UK College of Dentistry/UK College of Public Health) & Dr. Corrine Williams (UK College of Public Health)

• Dental Home Entryway During a Pandemic: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted access to routine and emergency dental care all over the world. The objective of this study was to evaluate how the pandemic has affected dental care in an academic setting in the U.S. Investigators: Dr. Susan Bishop (UK College of Dentistry), Ralph Catalano, Malini Kirakodu (UK College of Dentistry), Dr. Wes Coffman (UK College of Dentistry), Dr. Craig Miller (UK College of Dentistry) & Dr. Luciana Shaddox (UK College of Dentistry)

• Differential analysis of inflammatory mediators between African American and Caucasians: The aim of this study is to determine if there is a difference in inflammatory chemo/cytokine mediators in the gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) and a different inflammatory response to bacterial LPS in Caucasians compared to African Americans. Investigators: Dr. Rubelisa C. G. Oliveira (UK College of Dentistry), Sree Kirakodu (UK College of Dentistry), Dr. Jussara Goncalves Fernandes (UK College of Dentistry) & Dr. Luciana Shaddox (UK College of Dentistry)

• Implementing Value-Based Metrics into Kentucky’s Safety-Net Dental Clinics to Promote Integration, Improve Oral and Overall Health, and Expand Health Information Technology Capacity: KPCA primary lead, proposal submitted and under consideration. Investigators to include: Dr. Daria Stone (UK College of Dentistry)

• Applying an Equity Lens to Kentucky’s Oral Health Safety-Net:  Evaluate, Education, Effect Change!: UK/KOHII primary lead, proposal submitted and under consideration. Investigators to include:  Dr. Kevin Pearce (UK College of Medicine), Dr. Daria Stone (UK College of Dentistry), Dr. Rick Ingram (UK College of Dentistry/UK College of Public Health), Dr. Corrine Williams (UK College of Public Health) & Dr. Luciana Shaddox (UK College of Dentistry)

See information on student funding oppourtunties here. See information on faculty funding oppourtunties here.

• Do you have an idea for a research or other collaborative project? Submit your idea via our KOHII form here.
• Send an email to KOHII.
• Subscribe to the KOHII e-newsletter here.

Oelisoa (Mireille) Adriankaja, DDS, MS, PhD (she/her/hers)
Associate Professor, College of Dentistry

Cynthia Beebout (she/her/hers) 
Administrative Support Associate in Dental Public Health, College of Dentistry

Courtney Brown, MSW (she/her/hers)
KOHII Research Coordinator, College of Dentistry

Dawn Dawson, RDH, CCRC (she/her/hers)
Research Hygienist and Dental Study Coordinator, College of Dentistry

Charolette Garland (she/her/hers)
Senior College Grants Officer, College of Dentistry

Rick Ingram, PhD (he/him/his)
Associate Professor, College of Dentistry and College of Public Health

Raynor Mullins, DMD, MPH (he/him/his)
Emeritus Faculty, Dental Public Health, College of Dentistry

Rubelisa Candido Gomes de Oliveira, DDS, MS, PhD (she/her/hers)
Postdoctoral Scholar, College of Dentistry

Kevin Pearce, MD, MPH (he/him/his)
Professor, Department of Family and Community Medicine, College of Medicine

Luciana Macchion Shaddox, DDS, MS, PhD (she/her/hers)
Professor and Associate Dean of Research, Division of Periodontology, College of Dentistry

Nikki Stone, DMD (she/her/hers)
Dental Outreach Director, UK North Fork Valley Community Health Center, Associate Professor, College of Dentistry

Corrine Williams, PhD (she/her/hers)
Associate Professor, Department of Health, Behavior & Society, College of Public Health

• UK College of Dentistry, Center for Oral Health Research (COHR)
• UK College of Medicine
• UK College of Public Health
• Kentucky Primary Care Assocation