Abstract: China has the largest human biological and pathological tissue resource in terms of both quantity and diversity, which is true for oral cancer as well. However, this unique and valuable resource did not yield expected results in clinical translational re -search. On one side, clinicians lack experience in identification of research topics, even with plenty of clinical specimens. On the other side, researchers consider high impact publications as the top priority instead of clinical significance. The disalignment of the interests between these two sides led to inefficient and inadequate communications and collaborations. To change the current situation, we need to encourage clinicians to raise questions and generate research topics from clinical practice and to actively participate in translational research. Meanwhile, researchers need to understand basics of clinical medicine and design research projects with a focus on clinical problems. Closer collaborations between clinicians and researchers will help to identify new biomarkers of clinical significance through systematic clinical studies, which have the potential to translate into practical knowledge in diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of dis -eases. We can further evaluate and validate these translational results systematically by large-scale random clinical trials.