About Us

The Consortium for Oral Health Research and Informatics (COHRI) was formed in February 2007 during a users group meeting of dental schools who used the same EHR platform (axiUm). The Tufts University School of Dental Medicine had proposed the idea to form a consortium to share data to facilitate clinical research in dentistry. Subsequently the first meeting of COHRI was held just 5-months later in June 2007 with representation from 10 dental schools.  The consortium keynote speaker was Dr. Isabel Garcia, Deputy Director of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research. She discussed the need for greater and more specific clinical research data in dentistry, and strongly encouraged the members of this dental informatics consortium to continue to work toward the important goal of creating and sharing common data.  At the August 2008 meeting, COHRI formalized the organizational structure and elected a board of directors.

VISION

To improve oral health through better use of data

MISSION
The Consortium for Oral Health Research and Informatics will:

Facilitate the advancement of education, research, and patient care outcomes through collaborative development and promoting the use of standardized tools and processes.

STANDARDIZED DOCUMENTS

More information on the standardized materials available to COHRI member institutions: COHRI Standardized Documents

COHRI BYLAWS

COHRI Bylaws 2017_1-29-17 (Reviewed: Feb 25, 2020)

COHRI LEADERSHIP

COHRI Board of Directors and Working Group Chairs organizational chart will be posted shortly.

 

MEDIA

Promoting Research by Standardization of Caries Risk Assessment

Interview with Dr. Joel White, Professor in the Division of Biomaterials and Bioengineering, Division of General Dentistry, Department of Preventive and Restorative Dental Sciences, School of Dentistry University of California, San Francisco about his role in COHRI’s CAMBRA workgroup which currently includes 57 members.

 

Promoting Research Using Diagnostic Codes

Interview with Dr. Elsbeth Kalenderian, Chair, Oral Health Policy and Epidemiology, Chief of Quality, Harvard Dental Center, Harvard School of Dental Medicine about her role in the development and implementation of the EZCodes dental diagnostic terminology. The EZCodes Dental Diagnostic Terminology was developed in 2009 by a diagnostic terminology research workgroup led by Dr. Kalenderian.

 

Using the EHR for Educational Purposes

Interview with Dr. Gary Guest, Associate Dean for Patient Care, UTHSSA, Dental Clinics, San Antonio about his school’s approach for easing the transition of students from the pre-clinical to the clinical part of their education. In San Antonio, faculty attempt to use the Electronic Health Record (EHR) for distinct educational purposes in the simulation as well as in the patient care environment.

 

COHRI BigMouth Dental Data Repository

Interview with Dr. Muhammad Walji, Associate Professor at the Department of Diagnostic and Biomedical Sciences and Associate Dean for Technology Services & Informatics at the School of Dentistry, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. He explained the purpose and structure of the COHRI BigMouth Dental Data Repository which houses 1.2 million oral health records. Dr. Walji also described the data governance and what advantages faculty and students from participating schools can derive for their clinical research needs and outcomes analysis.

 

COHRI — Dental Schools’ Gateway to Clinical Research

Interview with Dr. Paul Stark, Professor and Director of Advanced and Graduate Education at Tufts University, School of Dental Medicine. Dr. Stark chairs the COHRI Board of Directors and explained during the interview what COHRI is all about and its vision, linking resources for better research and patient care. He explained that COHRI tries to create, standardize and integrate data using electronic health records; cooperate with other health related institutions to share data; improve informatics utilization in dental education, health care, and research; work together as a consortium to develop research projects to promote evidence based dentistry; and define and facilitate the implementation of best practices and standards of care.