U-M gets birth defects grant

Dental school graduates can study cleft lips and palates and other craniofacial anomalies at the University of Michigan (U-M) thanks to a new $750,000 fellowship, according to a report in the Ann Arbor News.

The money comes from the Coghlan Family Foundation, which donated $500,000, and the university itself, which added $250,000 to the fund through U-M President Mary Sue Coleman's Donor Challenge program, the newspaper reported.

"In the state of Michigan, we have about 3,000 children born with a craniofacial anomaly or birth defect," Katherine Kelly, D.D.S., M.S., an adjunct professor, told the newspaper. "We only have 300 orthodontists in the state, and a fair number of those are elderly and retiring and didn't receive this training."

Application submission opens next summer, and the one-year fellowship will be awarded to one dental school resident each year.