The Resident and Academic Training Committee is dedicated to standardizing and improving predoctoral and postdoctoral education in orofacial pain and to supporting educators and trainees in the field of Orofacial Pain.

The R&AT Committee consists of a Predoctoral Subcommittee and a Postdoctoral Subcommittee.

• The Predoctoral Subcommittee shall be responsible for recommending and monitoring predoctoral dental school curricula pertaining to orofacial pain and temporomandibular disorders.
• The Postdoctoral Subcommittee shall be responsible for recommending and monitoring post-doctoral dental school curricula pertaining to orofacial pain and temporomandibular disorders and shall develop and operate an accreditation protocol for such programs.

Committee co-chairs: Dr. Hong Chen (Predoctoral) & Dr. Sowmya Ananthan (Postdoctoral)

Recent committee activities:

• Hosted the 1^st TMD Educator Network Event at ADEA 2024:
  • Delivered AAOP information card to many attendees.
  • Connected with dental educators across the U.S., as well as national leaders such as Dr. Rena N. D’Souza, director of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, to raise the awareness of the urgent need to improve TMD education and orofacial pain as a new dental specialty.
  • Special thanks to the planning, organizing, and implementation team: James Hawkins, Jeff Shaefer, Shawn McMahon, Dale Ehrlich, James Fricton, Jasjot Sahni, Amey Patil, Brian Polacek, and Allan O’Bryan.
• Hosted the 1^st TMD Predoctoral Education Webinar. Predoctoral faculty members from Case Western Reserve University, Virginia Commonwealth University, A.T. Still University, and Harvard University shared their experiences in developing and implementing predoctoral curricula at their schools and discussed the challenges they face in implementing the predoctoral curricula. Over 70 participants attended the webinar. Many attendees thanked AAOP for organizing such an informative event and expressed their interest in joining the TMD Educator Network to collaborate on predoctoral TMD education.
• Hosted the 1^st Program Directors meeting at the AAOP 2024 Annual meeting in Scottsdale, AZ
  • This was attended by most of the Program Directors of the CODA accredited Orofacial Pain programs in the United States. It was a great opportunity to discuss the success and challenges faced by each program. This group will meet quarterly. One of the strategic aims of this committee is to standardize the Post-Doctoral Orofacial Pain curriculum.