Follow-Up Survey of National Institute of Dental Research Graduate Trainees and Postdoctoral Fellows.

Questionnaires were sent to 1,822 trainees and fellows of the National Institute of Dental Research (NIDR). Questions covered demographic characteristics of NIDR graduate trainees and fellows and their length of training, professional activities, estimates of importance of NIDR training, and publications. A response rate of 78.7 percent was achieved. Findings were that: more than 90 percent of the fellows and trainees were employed full-time; more than half the trainees, and 60 percent of the fellows, were employed by a university, more than one-quarter were self-employed; about two-thirds of the trainees, three-fourths of the fellows, were doing some teaching; more than 80 percent of both groups had held teaching or research positions since the end of their NIDR-supported training; dentistry and dental specialties were the fields of about 47 percent of the trainees and about 54 percent of the fellows; former NIDR fellows/trainees sponsored an estimated 960 other trainees and fellows; about 70 percent of the trainees, over 82 percent of the fellows, felt NIDR-supported training helped them significantly toward their career goals; more than 54 percent of the trainees, and over 62 percent of the fellows, said they could not have obtained the same training without NIDR support. (Author/NH)