In January 2026, the Faculty of Dentistry at Khon Kaen University (KKU) served as host for the Network Meeting of Deans and Major Collaborators, held in Khon Kaen, Thailand. The meeting was co-organized with the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) and the Fogarty International Center (FIC) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), under the longstanding project “Clinical and Public Health Research Training in Oral Health for Southeast Asia,” a program that has received NIH support since 2006. Dr. Ana Lucia Seminario, Director of the UW Timothy A. DeRouen Center for Global Oral Health, participated in the meeting alongside deans, senior policymakers, and key collaborators from across the region.
The meeting brought together representatives from thirteen institutions across Southeast Asia, including the University of Indonesia, the University of Health Sciences in Laos, the University of Malaysia, dental universities in Myanmar, the University of the Philippines Manila, Can Tho University of Medicine and Pharmacy and Thai Nguyen University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Vietnam, Thammasat University, Chulalongkorn University, Khon Kaen University, and a representative from Myanmar’s Ministry of Health. The gathering reflected the breadth of the collaborative network connecting dental institutions across the region.
The strategic discussions centered on the current progress of training programs, regional priorities for building oral health research capacity, the role of health institutions in supporting trainees and mentors, and the long-term sustainability and future direction of the collaboration. KKU’s Faculty of Dentistry has been a central partner in this work, and several of its faculty members are active collaborators and colleagues of the DeRouen Center. The meeting underscored the shared commitment of all partner institutions to strengthening oral health research infrastructure throughout Southeast Asia, and the importance of sustaining those connections over time.