Student Work Position: Graduate Research Assistant with the Center for Craniofacial and Dental Genetics

During my time at Pitt Public Health, I have been a Graduate Student Research Assistant with the Center for Craniofacial and Dental Genetics, specifically on their longitudinal studies looking at the development of childhood cavities. These studies are both under the Center for Oral Health Research in Appalachia, with one focusing on a cohort of Caucasian women and their children (COHRA2) and the other focusing on African American women and their children (COHRA Smile). In both of these studies, women are recruited when they are pregnant, with the goal of maintaining their study participation until their child's 10th birthday. Throughout this process, participants have annual in-person visits at the Center and quarterly phone calls where we can collect data on the mother-child pair regarding both the genetic and environmental factors that might be related to the development of cavities during childhood. These environmental factors include the child's diet, the family's

socioeconomic status, oral metabolomics and microbiome, and more. 

Even as a student worker on these studies, I do much of the same work as the full time research assistants. I am responsible for a sub-set of our participants, making sure that they complete their in-person visits and phone calls in a timely manner whenever possible. As part of this, I contact the participants so they can complete their shorter, bi-annual phone calls with me.  It is during these calls that I help to collect much of the environmental data, with a large focus on the child's diet. I am also  involved in the in-person visits, where I am paired with a trained dental hygienist. During these visits, the dental hygienist will take a series of saliva and soft plaque deposit samples. As the assistant, I am responsible for ensuring each sample is placed in the proper tube and for documenting from which teeth the plaque samples were taken. After each visit, I am responsible for logging and storing the samples properly. Outside of phone calls and visits, I also contribute to COHRA’s efforts by preparing the paperwork that is necessary for completing visits, verifying sample shipments to ensure that there are no missing or undocumented samples, mailing welcome materials to new participants, and tracking GPS information associated with where our participants get their water. This wide variety of duties requires me to practice my organizational and time management skills. The main aspect of my job that is different from the full-time staff is the flexibility of my work schedule. As an hourly student worker, I am able to easily adjust my work schedule as needed, as my supervisor understands that academics must come first. This has been extremely helpful for my peace of mind during weeks where I have an exam to take and/or projects to submit.

As a dual degree student, I love how well the work I do at COHRA marries public health and genetic counseling. From a public health perspective, COHRA is trying to better understand why the Appalachian region has one of the highest rates of childhood cavities. In this regard, the data we are collecting could be helpful in designing future public health initiatives to improve oral health in the region. By collecting data on different cohorts of participants (African American and Caucasian, rural and urban), we may also be able to highlight key health disparities impacting oral health. With regards to genetic counseling, even though dentistry and oral health is not an area we currently focus on, I still feel that the work I am doing with COHRA translates into genetic counseling practice in a general way. As genetic counselors, we are expected to explain complex concepts in a way that the average person, including children and adults without a full high school education, can understand.  At COHRA, I often find myself explaining to curious moms (and sometimes curious children) the purpose of the many tubes in which we collect saliva. I also often explain to participating moms what to expect during future visits or phone calls, similar to what we may do in contracting when we lay out what our session will look like or what other appointments need to be scheduled.  In these ways, I am able to practice communicating to people of highly varied backgrounds in a clear manner.

Although my thesis project will not be based on data collected through the COHRA studies, that is not because there is not an opportunity to do so. (My interest just happens to lie in metabolic, not dental genetics, so my thesis will be about PKU). The student before me did choose to do her thesis here, and had a successful experience! She wrote a blog about her experiences with COHRA back in June of 2019, so please read it if you want to know more about how she incorporated her work into her thesis. Her blog also provides another viewpoint of the experiences of working with COHRA in general. 

Overall, my work with COHRA has been a valuable experience. Through it, I have had the opportunity to work with some amazing people - both co-workers and participants - and hone my communication, time management, and organizational skills. I have also been immersed in an interdisciplinary team of people with a mix of dental health, research and genetics backgrounds. Combined, I believe these experiences will make me a genetic counselor with a well-rounded background.

Trinity Sprague, Class of 2021