The Volpe Clinical Research Center is an in-house clinical facility at Colgate-Palmolive's largest global technology center in Piscataway, New Jersey. Opened in 2022, it's where clinical professionals and scientists evaluate oral care and skin health products before those products ever reach a store shelf.
Volpe Clinical Research Center at a glance:
Named for: Dr. Anthony Volpe, who spent 52 years at Colgate-Palmolive and served as Vice President of Worldwide Clinical Research
Research areas: Both oral care and dermal (skin health) clinical research — a dual focus that makes the center unique within the company
Skin health connection: Supports Colgate-Palmolive's growing dermal portfolio, including PCA Skin, EltaMD and Filorga
Scale: Part of a global clinical research program conducting more than 200 studies each year with roughly 70 collaborating centers worldwide
Who works there: Dental examiners, hygienists and dermal professionals working side by side with R&D scientists and product developers
What's next: A sister facility, the Colgate Clinical Innovation Institute, opened in Mumbai, India, in 2023
Behind every product Colgate-Palmolive makes is a question that has to be answered before anything else: Does the science hold up?
Answering that question is the job of clinical research, and for decades, much of that work happened at collaborating centers spread across the world. The Volpe Clinical Research Center brings a critical piece of it home. Now, scientists developing new formulations and the clinical professionals evaluating them work in the same building, side by side, so a promising idea can be tested, refined and tested again without leaving Piscataway.
"People are making new prototypes that they just want to understand, 'How does this work in the mouth?'" says LaTonya Kilpatrick, PhD, Senior Vice President, Clinical Research Innovation. "Now we have the Volpe Center to walk downstairs, access and get this type of information real-time."
Why does Colgate-Palmolive have its own clinical center?
Colgate-Palmolive conducts more than 200 clinical studies each year, working with academic partners, research organizations and dozens of collaborating centers worldwide. What the company didn't have until the Volpe Clinical Research Center opened was a dedicated clinical facility inside its own technology center — one that brings R&D scientists, clinicians and insights specialists onto the same team.
"We didn't have this as a place to go several years ago, where dentists and dental professionals are present to give their point of view about early technologies that are being developed," says Kilpatrick. "We are able to co-create with our team to enhance those products before they hit the shelf."
Who was Dr. Anthony Volpe?
The center's name honors the late Dr. Anthony Volpe, who spent 52 years at Colgate-Palmolive and served as its Vice President of Worldwide Clinical Research. After joining the company in 1960, he launched its first dental clinic — established to evaluate the effectiveness of Colgate's anti-tartar toothpaste — and went on to publish more than 200 papers in international scientific journals, becoming one of the world's leading experts in clinical dental research and preventive dentistry.
"He really established a presence for us worldwide," says Maria Emanuel Ryan, DDS, PhD, Executive Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer at Colgate-Palmolive, one of his successors as the company's clinical research leader. Volpe retired in 2013 and passed away in 2020; the center that bears his name opened two years later.
What happens inside the Volpe Center?
Step into one of the Volpe Clinical Research Center's dental operatories and you'll find:
State-of-the-art dental chairs and imaging monitors
A study team of two to three personnel — dental examiners, a hygienist and a recorder — plus an R&D scientist collecting biosamples or assessing conditions in the mouth
A dedicated dental lab in the back of the clinic for studying case models
A rigorous infection control system for clinical tools
Having clinicians and R&D scientists in the same building changes the pace of research. Instead of waiting on external study timelines, Volpe Center teams get quick reads on early prototypes, adjust and go again — with feedback flowing directly between clinicians, scientists and study participants.
Does the Volpe Center only study oral health?
No. Alongside its oral clinical research, the Volpe Clinical Research Center also houses a growing dermal clinical research group, reflecting Colgate-Palmolive's expansion in skin health through brands like PCA Skin, EltaMD and Filorga.
"Here we collaborate with both research partners from oral care and dermal clinical," says Isabel Diaz, Director of Dermal Clinical Research. "We're looking at the prototypes as they're being developed and getting a quick read not only on the performance on the skin, but we're even getting feedback from our study subjects to better optimize those products before putting them out in the market."
Diaz says that feedback helps the team spot gaps — the products people need but can't find — and pursue them in ways that are effective, cosmetically elegant and affordable. Sometimes that means testing a product for an unmet need in an underserved population. "That's really being courageous," she says.
How does clinical research shape the products people buy?
Kilpatrick's team also looks further out, evaluating emerging technologies and connecting them to real opportunities for the people who use Colgate-Palmolive products. "We are making it easier for people to help themselves," she says. People are busy, she explains, and her team's job is to take oral health off the list of things they have to worry about.
The Volpe Center model is already growing. In 2023, Colgate-Palmolive launched the Colgate Clinical Innovation Institute in Mumbai, India, where scientists can co-create and develop new products the same way — one more step in reimagining a healthier future for all people, their pets and our planet.
