Executive Committee

The Executive Committee was the governing body for DPBRN. Its members comprised of six DPBRN practitioner-investigators who were in non-academic daily clinical practice, the Network Chair, the Director of the DPBRN Coordinating Center, and the NIDCR representative. The practitioner-investigator members were elected for three-year terms by the DPBRN membership. Note that the practitioner-investigators constituted the majority voting authority on the Executive Committee.

The duties of the Executive Committee were to act as the administrative and executive arm of the PBRN. It made decisions on day-to-day operational issues; considered and adopted changes in study procedures as necessary; reviewed and implemented recommendations from the Institutional Review Board and/or Data and Safety Monitoring Board; reviewed progress of studies in achieving their goals; and reviewed data collection procedures. The Executive Committee also prioritized research topics for study development, reviewed studies prior to submission for funding, and had the authority to make suggestions for submission of manuscripts for publication of DPBRN study results. The Executive Committee met every one to two months. The typical meeting was held by videoconference, although some members joined by telephone conference call. One to two times each year, the Executive Committee held a face-to-face meeting.

To be eligible to serve as a practitioner-investigator representative, a DPBRN practitioner had to meet these criteria:

1. Is a licensed practitioner engaged in the regular practice of dentistry.
2. Is a general dentist or dental hygienist who sees patients in a general practice setting.
3. Has participated in at least one DPBRN clinical study.
4. Has access to e-mail, is able to receive attachments via e-mail, and is willing to communicate via e-mail on a regular basis.
5. Is able to participate in the regularly-scheduled DPBRN Executive Committee meetings that are held by videoconference and during face-to-face meetings at locations throughout the United States.