World Workshop on Oral Medicine IX (WWOM IX) 2025

5 April 2023

Dear Oral Medicine colleagues:

WWOM IX represents a culmination of the first eight Workshops conducted over the past 30 years. We learn from each successive Workshop, seek to refine our modelling, and improve the clarity and transparency of WWOM policy. It is critical that our Oral Medicine colleagues worldwide remain informed and have an opportunity to provide feedback and advice. To that end we include our mission statement, our goals, our organizational structure, and opportunities for participation in WWOM IX in sections I and II.

The plans for WWOM IX are proceeding well and are described in section III. This will provide a foundation for continued work leading into WWOM IX (date and location to be confirmed soon).

Thank you again for your interest and support. We very much look forward to the next steps leading to 2025.

Sincerely,

WWOM Steering Committee (alphabetic listing)

Arwa Farag
Timothy A. Hodgson
Catherine Hong
Siri Beier Jensen
A. Ross Kerr
Giovanni Lodi
Richeal Ni Riordain
Tom Sollecito

I. World Workshop on Oral Medicine Vision, Mission, Goals and Guiding Principles for Participation in WWOM

VISION

To be a global leader in high quality patient care, research and education in oral medicine.

MISSION

  • identifying barriers and solutions to optimal delivery of patient care,
  • fostering transdisciplinary multi-center research
  • mentoring future leaders in oral medicine
  • promoting a global oral medicine and interprofessional educational framework

GOALS

The following goals are of equal importance relative to the WWOM mission and vision.

  • To publish high quality evidence-based systematic reviews and position papers on orofacial disorders
  • To establish and facilitate implementation core outcome sets for orofacial disorders
  • To establish new and foster ongoing collaborations among international Oral Medicine colleagues/organizations, including development of joint research projects, educational programmes and training opportunities.
  • To integrate multi-professional and inter-disciplinary modeling with oral medicine in order to collectively advance the health sciences in relation to nonsurgical management of orofacial disorders across the domains of clinical practice, research and education
  • To contribute to the training and career development of oral medicine clinicians.

GUIDING PRICIPLES FOR PARTICIPATION IN WWOM

Three key principles will guide participation in WWOM opportunities, including Workshops, outcomes of the Workshops, and administration:

  1. Participation in WWOM is viewed as an evolving opportunity, guided by new directions across clinical practice, research and education.
  2. Appointments to the various WWOM working positions is based on several considerations, including scientific expertise, administrative leadership skills, gender equality, and geographic distribution.
  3. Transparency of our process is clearly presented to the international health professional and scientific community.

II. Organizational Structure

A. Steering Committee Governance:

Steering Committee is principally comprised of Oral Medicine specialists such that expertise in the arenas of clinical practice, research and education is collectively represented. An effort is made to ensure a cross section of committee members that represent the specialty worldwide, and demonstrate administrative leadership skills with a commitment to serve.

Steering is responsible for the overall implementation and management of the Mission and Goals of WWOM. This includes but is not limited to:

  • Overall program modelling
  • Oversight regarding group selection and faculty calibration
  • Fostering collaboration between international oral medicine organizations (e.g., EAOM, AAOM)
  • Oversight of decisions regarding publication authorship and production
  • Fundraising to support future WWOM activities.

B. Participation in WWOM Opportunities

The following model is being utilized to comprise the participant roster for WWOM IX. It is similar to the approach utilized for previous workshops. Details of the specific roles are listed in Attachment I

  1. Work Group Structure
    • Section Heads (appointed): up to 2
    • Reviewers (competition): up to 2
    • Assistant Reviewers (competition): up to 3
    • Observer (competition): 1
    • Consultants (appointed): no limit
  2. Steering Committee Liaisons to each group

III. WWOM IX Progress

WWOM will soon be sending out a call for applications to participate as Reviewers and Assistant Reviewers for WWOM IX.

At this time, the following Groups for WWOM XI are as follows (Groups 1 to 4 are part of the WONDER initiative (World Workshop on Oral Medicine Outcomes Initiative for the Direction of Research):

Group 1* – WONDER Initiative Dry Mouth Phase 2/ COS Part II: How should we measure Dry Mouth?

Group 2* – WONDER Initiative Oral Lichen Planus Phase 2/ COS Part II: How should we measure Oral Lichen Planus?

Group 3* – WONDER Initiative Burning Mouth Syndrome Phase 1/ COS Part 1: What should we measure in Burning Mouth Syndrome?

Group 4* – WONDER Initiative Leukoplakia Phase 1/ COS Part 1: What should we measure in Leukoplakia?

Group 5 –Oral Medicine Curriculum for Predoctoral Students

Attachment I

WWOM IX Participant Roles

Steering Committee Liaisons will serve to facilitate the review and publication processes for each group in relation to Steering Committee oversight. The Steering Committee is comprised of oral medicine specialists with collective extensive scientific and administrative experience relative to the Workshop goals and management.

Section Heads are senior level authorities in a relevant field with proven leadership abilities. They will be charged to directly coordinate all research related activities for their group. This includes development of study methodology, assigning work, setting deadlines, overseeing the preparation and reviewing of draft manuscripts before the workshop, as well as the completion and submission of manuscripts following the workshop. They will be assigned Reviewers and Assistant Reviewers, and will select Consultants as coordinated with the Steering Committee liaisons. They will play an important role as mentors to the Reviewers and coordinate directly with Consultants. Criteria for selection include (i) demonstrated leadership skills (decision making, integrity, accountability, ability to empower others, interpersonal skills, dispassionate personality, ability to integrate vision with technical details), (ii) commitment and time availability, (iii) track record of oral medicine research funding and publications in high impact journals over last 5 years, (iv) previous participation in WWOM, (v) active clinical practice, and (vi) experience with inter-professional education/practice/research. *Selection will be made by Steering subjected to interview process.

Reviewers are early to mid-career experts in oral medicine (≥5 years) and selected by a competition based on call for applications. They may or may not be assigned a topic that is not an area of their expertise, which will contribute to objectivity in the group project. Under the direction of the Section Heads, they will be responsible for literature search, data collection, and writing manuscript drafts.

Assistant Reviewers (Observers – one/group) are very early career experts in oral medicine (<5 years) or residents in oral medicine training programs and selected by a competition based on call for applications. Under the direction of the Section Heads, they will contribute to the group activities while at the same time they will observe the overall process and closely interact with the other group members. This strategy providing a nurturing mentorship environment for the assistant reviewers. Observers unlike Assistant Reviewers will not be reimbursed.

Consultants are experts in the area related to the group topic over the last 10 years. Consultants may not be limited to Oral Medicine specialists and may include physicians and members of other disciplines if appropriate. They will help in the study design, contribute to the investigation process, and read and comment on manuscript drafts as deemed appropriate by the Section Head. Prior to being invited, the appointment must be approved by Steering based on recommendations by Section Heads. Reasons for recommendation should be stipulated. The main criteria for selection include (i) relevant expertise to the group topic, (ii) commitment and time availability and (iii) experience with inter-professional education/practice/research. Consultants will not be reimbursed.

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