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Graduate Student Clinician's Research Program

The ADHA, in partnership with Dentsply Sirona, empowers rising dental hygiene scholars to explore, participate and conduct research for presentation and prestige at the ADHA25 Annual Conference!

This annual program creates a unique opportunity for ONE STUDENT from each graduate dental hygiene program, offering a Master of Science degree in Dental Hygiene, to compete for awards, recognition and an expense-paid trip to participate in the ADHA25 Annual Conference in Long Beach, CA in October.

Submit Your Application Here by May 30

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

The ADHA Graduate Student Clinician’s Research Program features dynamic 10-minute podium PowerPoint presentations following ADHA's professional format guidelines. Each student presentation showcases original research or clinical findings that includes a clear hypothesis, methods and materials, results, discussion, and an evidence-based conclusion.

Each graduate dental hygiene program will nominate one outstanding graduate student project to represent them and present at the ADHA25 Annual Conference.

Qualifying research includes clinical, basic science, or educational research, which supports the areas of research identified in the ADHA National Dental Hygiene Research Agenda and contributes to the dental hygiene knowledge base.
Students may work in teams to develop the research, but only one (1) student from each program is eligible to present at the ADHA25 Annual Conference for judging and receive financial support.
The podium presentation will be judged at the event with awards presented and all participants honored at a reception at the Conference.
The first-place winning student from this competition will be awarded an expense-paid trip to the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research (AADOCR) and will be invited to participate in the AADOCR/Dentsply Sirona Student Clinician’s Award Program in a non-competitive way.

INVITATION TO PARTICIPATE

An invitation to participate in the research program has been sent to the Program Director of each graduate dental hygiene program.The program will identify one student to participate in the ADHA Graduate Student Clinician’s Research Program. The ADHA does not designate a specific procedure for the selection of the student clinician to represent their dental hygiene program. It is acknowledged that each school or university has its separate set of rules and guidelines in the selection of the student. However, the student selected to participate in the research program must adhere to the regulations established by the ADHA.

The Program Director or designee will assist the student in properly fulfilling the requirements of the program. It is critical that the advisor ensures that the student podium presentation is in compliance with the regulations established by the ADHA. They must also ensure that the student makes initial contact with the ADHA and completes and submits the registration form, the abstract, and all other requested information by the due dates. The students should present their research in a standard scientific PowerPoint presentation, in the format required by the ADHA. All participants in the Graduate Dental Hygiene Research Program will be recognized at an event determined by ADHA.

ELIGIBILITY AND BENEFITS

ELIGIBILITY

Must be selected through means determined by his/her program.
Must be a current student member of the ADHA. 
Must be an enrolled student within the year prior to the student clinician program at ADHA’s Annual Conference and reside within the U.S.

BENEFITS

Students participating in the research program will be pre-registered for ADHA’s Annual Conference. The ADHA Annual Conference badge will entitle the student to admission to all non-fee-ticketed scientific and general sessions and the exhibit floor area.
- Should the student elect to participate in any CE courses we ask that these are not in conflict with obligations that the student must fulfill as part of the research program.
- If they would like to participate in any special events (i.e., President’s Dinner), we ask that they remit the appropriate fees.
Three winners will be selected after all presentations have concluded. Winners will be announced during the Awards Luncheon Reception.
Prizes will be awarded for each winner and may vary.
All participants will receive a certificate of appreciation for their participation. Their abstracts will also be published in the Journal of Dental Hygiene.

APPLICATION PROCESS

The application process begins at the ADHA submission portal. Follow the applications steps to submit your abstratct and intent to represent your program. Required tasks must be completed by Friday, May 30, 2025.

Complete your profile information.
Submit an abstract title.
Submit an abstract or summary (250 words max.) of your planned presentation. Include all authors.
Notification of acceptance will be sent by June 6, 2025.
PowerPoint presentations must be uploaded by Friday, August 29, 2025.

PRESENTATION GUIDELINES

FORMAT
The abstracts and PowerPoint presentations should follow the format below:

Title
NDHRA focus area
Problem – Identify reasons for investigation and provide background information. What problem were you trying to solve? State the research question(s).
Hypothesis – What was the hypothesis to be tested?
Methods – Describe how the study was conducted, identifying techniques used, sample size, data analysis methods, etc.
Results – Present the findings of the study and their statistical and clinical significance. Display the data using tables, graphs, and charts that can be easily understood.
Conclusion – What have you learned from conducting this research?
References – Follow the format required by your institution (APA, MLA, NLM, etc.).

GUIDELINES
Only one (1) student may conduct the podium PowerPoint presentation.

The oral presentation should be no longer than 10 minutes with an additional 2 minutes allotted for questions and answers.
In September, presenting students will receive an email from ADHA staff with their on-site schedule that will include dates, times, and locations for all of their required activities during ADHA25.

DISQUALIFICATION

Students will be disqualified by the judges during the competition if:

Any institution identifiers, including logos, QR Codes, or institution name, are displayed on any slides during the presentation or announced as part of the presentation.
Any faculty names are identified on any slides during the presentation or announced as part of the presentation, including “thank you” acknowledgments at the end of the presentations.

NO ADVERTISING

No advertising material that resembles a commercial promotional effort may be distributed or shown. Drugs and products mentioned in the presentation should be identified only generally by chemical formula or by generic name. No trade names (brand or company) may be used for identification or other purposes in the poster presentation during the judging. Only generic identifiers are acceptable.

Products should be identified as “Product A”, “Product B”, “Product C”, etc. It is appropriate, to identify the characteristics of products. (For example: “Product A” is a glass-filled resin catalyzed by visible light.) Commercial promotion of a product or service by trade name is absolutely prohibited. Violation of this requirement will automatically disqualify a project from consideration in the competitive portion of the presentation.

Submit Your Application Here by May 9

If you have any questions, please contact Kerrianne Aulet, Manager of Education, by email at kerriannea@adha.net or by phone at (312) 481-8813.