From clinician to researcher--a first-hand account.

While teaching and clinical care may be somewhat intuitive, research is much less so, and a lack of research experience or opportunity to do research can be frustrating to the faculty member who is trying to become well-rounded. In an effort to ease the transition from clinical teacher to clinical researcher, the faculty of dentistry at Dalhousie University has developed a research mentorship program. The purpose of this paper is to report on the opportunities and challenges that 2 dental clinicians experienced when they participated in the pilot phase of an epidemiologic survey of the oral health status of seniors. In their academic role, these 2 clinical examiners, who were full-time faculty members, concentrated on classroom and clinical teaching. Although neither had previous clinical research experience, both were interested in broadening their horizons by engaging in research in the hope of attaining a variety of positive outcomes.