The Power of Grants

This message appears in the UCLA School of Dentistry's spring 2025 magazine. Click here for all magazine content.

Recently, I was reflecting on how dental school budgets have changed over the years. When I enrolled at the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry in the early 1980s, the state covered most operating costs, supplemented by nominal student tuition. For many reading this magazine, your UCLA School of Dentistry experience was similar.

Fast-forward to 2025, and the financial landscape for oral health institutions is now a dynamic mix of public funding, philanthropy, grants, private partnerships, ancillary revenue like CE, and, of course, tuition.

In this message, I’d like to highlight the transformative power of grant funding. Grants enable scientific breakthroughs, expanded clinical care, and enhanced training for future oral health leaders. Thanks to a steady stream of successful proposals, the School has built a robust contracts and grants portfolio that exceeds $95M. This includes the largest NIH award in our School’s 60-year history—$20.6M over five years to fund the Human Virome Characterization Center. As I told Dr. Yvonne Hernandez-Kapila, associate dean of research and lead PI on this ambitious, interdisciplinary effort, I’m most proud that of the five nationwide HVCC grants, ours is the only one awarded to a dental school.

Discoveries in our labs are put into practice in our clinics … and beyond. UCLA clinicians have secured funding to benefit underserved communities, from oral health literacy programs in low-income schools to subsidized care for patients living with HIV and AIDS. As you’ll read in these pages, a $4.2M state grant will enable the Special Patient Care Clinic to vastly expand care for our most vulnerable patients.

Public-private partnerships also play a growing role. A recent award from the American Dental Education Association allows our oral radiology faculty to integrate an AI diagnostic system into their training, giving students greater exposure to X-ray samples and stronger diagnostic skills.

As we pursue major research, clinical, and teaching grants, we must not lose sight of the human aspect of dental education. In this magazine, you’ll also learn about the two-decade growth of our Professional Program for International Dentists, which has helped hundreds of foreign-trained practitioners gain U.S. licensure. Another feature reflects on the first year of an initiative promoting mental and physical wellness among UCLA D.D.S. students.

From grant-funded lab discoveries to tech-forward clinics and courses to after-school yoga, we remain committed to empowering the next generation of oral healthcare leaders.

Sincerely,
Paul H. Krebsbach, D.D.S., Ph.D.
Dean and Professor