Dr. Dympna Daly

Dr. Daly qualified from Trinity College, Dublin in 1982 and spent a few years working in General Practice in the UK and Northern Ireland. She later worked for the Public Dental Service in Dublin.

In 1989 she completed a Master’s degree in Paediatric Dentistry in the University of Minnesota and was the recipient of the Hatton Award for her Thesis on Prenatal Fluoride. On her return to Ireland she worked part-time teaching in the Dublin Dental Hospital; she also set up her private practice in Galway City. Since 1996 Dr. Daly has worked full time in private practice limited to Paediatric Dentistry. She has published a number of articles and given presentations nationally and abroad. Dr. Daly’s areas of interest continue to be the prevention of oral disease and maintenance of oral health in children. She has a special interest in children with Cleft Lip / Palate and since 1995 became involved commencing a Dental programme whereby all CL/P babies, in the West of Ireland, are seen from 6-12 months of age and then entered into a regular preventive system. To date, the oral health of the children in this system has been significantly better than other CL/P children – this programme has also proved to be very cost-effective.

Dr. Martin Foster

After qualifying from Edinburgh his career has included general practice, hospital and Community posts and further studies leading to a masters degree, registration as a Specialist in Paediatric Dentistry, qualifications in Health Service Management, and legal scholarship examinations in the Faculty of Advocates. Martin has been involved in the clinical guidance development for SIGN and SDCEP and prior to joining Dental Protection as Dento-legal Adviser in 2011, he was Assistant Clinical Director with NHS Lothian.  He is currently Dental Protection’s Head of Dental Services for Ireland. Martin presents regularly on a range of dento-legal topics with a particular interest in communication and risk management.

Professor Anthony Roberts

Professor Anthony Roberts is Professor and Consultant in Restorative Dentistry at University College Cork.  His main clinical, research and teaching interests are in Periodontology and he is the Vice Dean for Teaching Curriculum/Academic Affairs and Head of the Restorative and Dental Hygiene programmes at Cork University Dental School and Hospital. 

Professor Alastair Sloan

Alastair obtained his BSc in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Wales in 1993 and his PhD in Oral Biology and Pathology from Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry at The University of Birmingham, UK in 1997. Following postdoctoral research, he was appointed Lecturer in Oral Biology at the School of Dentistry, The University of Birmingham in 2000.

In 2005, he moved to the School of Dentistry, Cardiff University to develop his own lab and was awarded his personal chair in 2012. He was Head of Oral and Biomedical Sciences at the School of Dentistry between 2010-2015, Director of International (2012-2015) and Director of Research (2015-2017). Between 2015-2017 he was Director of the Cardiff Institute for Tissue Engineering and Repair (CITER), a cross-University research network. He was appointed Head of School in 2017, a post which he held until January 2020 when he relocated to The University of Melbourne to take up his present role as Head of School of the Melbourne Dental School. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology (FRSB). In 2020 he was elected Honorary Fellow of the International College of Dentists (FICD).

Alastair’s research is multi-disciplinary and in the broad field of mineralised connective tissues. He is interested in the reparative potential and behaviour of the dentine-pulp complex and bone, specifically the potential therapeutic manipulation of the dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs). This includes understanding the heterogeneity within dental pulp progenitor populations and potential therapeutic roles of these DPSCs in the wider context of regenerative biology. His research is also focussed on understanding the dentinogenic and osteoinductive properties of dentine and bone matrices to facilitate novel tissue engineering and natural regenerative processes in relation to dentistry and orthopaedics. In relation to this, his lab is heavily focussed on understanding bacterial invasion and attachment in dental and bone infections and development of novel antimicrobial carriers / restorative materials for clinical endodontics and orthopaedics. He has established liposomal nanocarriers for antimicrobial delivery and prototype antimicrobial materials and model systems to better understand the nature of the bacterial / pulp environment during pulpal infection.

Alastair currently acts as a research funding panel member for the EU and Research Foundation Flanders having previously been a member of the UK NC3Rs grant assessment panel. He sits on the Nominations Committee of the International Association for Dental Research and is a member of both the British Society for Oral and Dental Research and Australian and New Zealand Division of the IADR.

Dr. Radi Masri

Dr. Masri is a tenured Professor at the University of Maryland School of Dentistry and School of Medicine. He is the Program Director of the Advanced Education Program in Prosthodontics and the Director of the Division of Prosthodontics at the Department of Advanced Oral Sciences and Therapeutics. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Prosthodontics, the President of the American Academy of Fixed Prosthodontics, and Director of the American Board of Prosthodontics.

Dr. Masri received his first dental degree from the University of Jordan Dental School in 1997 and completed a prosthodontic residency at the University of Maryland, Baltimore College of Dental Surgery in 2001. Dr. Masri has a Master degree in oral biology and a PhD in biomedical sciences. He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Prosthodontics, a fellow of the American College of Prosthodontists, a member of the American Academy of Fixed Prosthodontics and fellow of the Academy of Prosthodontics.

He lectures nationally and internationally and serves as an external examiner for international dental schools in the field of prosthodontics. Dr. Masri has authored numerous scientific papers, holds several patents, and currently supervises a federally funded research laboratory that studies the etiology and treatment of chronic pain.

Dr. Masri received many honors including the 2013 American College of Prosthodontist (ACP) Clinician Researcher Award, the 2015 Maryland LIFE Award for the most promising technology, and the 2018 ACP Distinguished Service Award.

Dr. Saoirse O’Toole

Saoirse is a clinical lecturer in Prosthodontics at King’s College London where she originally conducted her PhD in tooth wear investigating risk factors associated with dietary tooth wear. Half her week is now spent on clinics treating patients while the other half is spent continuing her research. She lectures nationally and internationally, has two book chapters on tooth wear, released an open source software to measure tooth wear progression in primary care and is developing a patented device to detect gastric reflux from the mouth.

Saoirse has regularly featured on the BBC with her research including in an episode of BBC’s “Trust me, I’m a Doctor”. She has been invited to speak about erosive tooth wear research on ITV, 2FM, the BBC today show, BBC 5 live, BBC Scotland and her research has been featured in the Daily Mail, The Sun and The Times Magazine.

She is an expert for the Erosive Tooth Wear website/charity, particularly for her work on the BEWE (Basic Erosive Wear Examination). Her open source software for measuring wear with intraoral scans can be downloaded here.

Professor Stephen Porter

Professor Stephen Porter is Institute Director and Professor of Oral Medicine of UCL Eastman Dental Institute He is a member of the Board of the Faculty of Dental Surgery of the Royal College of Surgeons of England as well as past Senior Vice Dean and  Regional Advisor of this faculty. He is a past President of the British and Irish Society for Oral Medisine and the European Association of Oral Medicine.  His clinical interests are the medical management of disorders of the oral mucosa, salivary glands and abnormalities of orofacial sensation. His research interests include the diagnosis and management of potentially malignant disease of the mouth and the treatment of immunologically mediated disease of the mouth and salivary glands. He has published extensively over the past 35 years.

Professor Paul Coulthard is an experienced Consultant Oral Surgeon. He is Dean & Director of the Institute of Dentistry, and Professor of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, at Barts & The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London. He is President of the ‘British Association of Oral Surgeons’. He is past President of the ‘British Dental Association Hospital Group’. He was previously Head of the School of Medical Sciences at the University of Manchester that consisted of the Research Institutes of ‘Cancer Sciences’, ‘Cardiovascular Sciences’, ‘Developmental Biology & Medicine’, ‘Diabetes, Endocrinology & Gastroenterology’, and the ‘Manchester Medical School’ and ‘Manchester Dental School’. Prior to this he was Dean of the Manchester Dental School of five years. He has published over 200 scientific papers and has an international research reputation in the fields of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Oral Implantology, and the Control of Pain and Anxiety. Professor Coulthard is actively involved in teaching and learning. He is passionate about Evidence-Based Practice and teaching this concept to students.

Dr. Suk Ng

Suk Ng qualified at Manchester Dental School in 1987. After working for one year in general practice, she won an MRC Research Training Fellowship to study for a PhD in “Ultrasound Imaging of Enamel Caries”. Suk did her specialist training in Dental Radiology at Guy’s Hospital, and joined the GDC’s Specialist List for Dental & Maxillofacial Radiology in the year 2000. For over two decades, Suk has taught dental radiology at under- and postgraduate level at a number of dental schools including Guy’s, King’s, Royal London and Bristol Dental Schools. She was the Programme Director of KCL’s distance learning MSc programme in Dental and Maxillofacial Radiology. She has just launched a new university programme, PostGraduate Certificate in “Dental CBCT Radiological Interpretation” at King’s College London. In addition to being an expert in dental radiology, Suk has extensive clinical experience in performing diagnostic ultrasound imaging and ultrasound-guided needle biopsies in the head and neck region. Suk is the immediate-past President of the British Society of Dental and Maxillofacial Radiology.

Paul Quinlan graduated from the Dublin Dental School 1991. He completed an M.Sc. in periodontology at the Eastman Dental School, London, in 1993.  In 1996 he was awarded a fellowship in Dental Surgery from the Royal College of Surgeons in Glasgow and he also received a Fulbright Scholarship for study in the USA.  He completed the periodontal and prosthodontic training programs at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio in 2001. He returned to Ireland and commenced specialist practice limited to prosthodontics and periodontics at Fitzwilliam Square, Dublin. He is a diplomat of the American Boards of Periodontology and Prosthodontics.  He is a fellow of the ITI.  He was awarded a fellowship from the RCSI in 2016.  He has lectured in Ireland, the UK and Internationally.

Professor Jo.E. Frencken

Jo is Emeritus Professor in Minimal Intervention Dentistry at the Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands. He obtained a MSc degree in Dental Public Health from the University of London and a PhD degree from the University of Nijmegen. His current interest covers minimal intervention dentistry c.q., prevention and minimal operative intervention techniques, in particular the Atraumatic Restorative Treatment approach, cariological principles and caries epidemiology. The Academy of Dentistry International awarded him the title of ‘International Dentist-of-the-Year’ (1998-99) for his international leadership in the dental profession. He holds a Guest Professorship at the University of Wuhan, China and at the University of Cordoba, Argentina. He was awarded a Honorary Professorship at the Maimonides University in Buenos Aires, Argentina and a Doctor Honoris Causa from The National University of Cuya in Mendoza, Argentina in 2015. The President of the Government of the Republic of China, XI Jinping, awarded him the prestigious 2015-International Science and Technology Cooperation prize for developing and disseminating the ART approach. He was awarded the 2016 Yngve Ericsson Prize for Research in Preventive Odontology issued by the Swedish Patent Revenue Fund for Research in Preventive Odontology. In 2016, the Dutch Dental Association honored him with a honorary membership for his contributions to improving oral health nationally and internationally and in 2017, he received the IADR Distinguished Scientist H. Trendley Dean award.

Professor Samuel J. McConkey

Samuel J. McConkey is Associate Professor and Head of the Department of International Health and Tropical Medicine at RCSI: University of Medicine and Health Sciences, a Consultant in General Medicine, Tropical Medicine and Infectious Diseases at Beaumont Hospital Dublin and Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda both in Ireland. He is Deputy Dean at RCSI for International Curriculum development and co-leads the vertical theme Population Health and Healthcare Delivery.

He was a board member of the national regulator for medical and social care in Ireland, the Health Information & Quality Authority (HIQA).  He was a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of European Vaccine Initiative and is now on the board.  He was a member and chairperson of the SAC of European Malaria Vaccine Initiative 2007-2009.  He chaired the cross-border implementation board for Sexual Health services in Ireland, funded by EU Interreg IV, through CAWT.

Research Interests and Focus: Prevention and control of the infectious diseases of relevance for resource-poor countries, including developing and evaluating new vaccines, studies of acquired immunity and molecular pathogenesis, and anthropological and political science studies of drivers and consequences of stigma.

Previous positions: Fellow in Infectious Disease at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis in Missouri Honorary Consultant in Infectious Diseases at Oxford Radcliffe Trust 2001 – 2005 Wellcome Trust funded researcher in The Gambia doing clinical studies of therapeutic vaccines against hepatitis B virus infection in 2001-2005 Head of Viral Disease Research Programme, at MRC Laboratories The Gambia 2003-20

Professor Nicola Innes

Nicola qualified as a Registered General Nurse, then gained a BSc in Life Sciences followed by an intercalated BMSc in Cellular/Molecular Pathology and BDS(hons). She spent seven years as a General Dentist in Carnoustie and Forfar then completed a PhD based on a randomised control trial investigating the Hall Technique whilst part-time in practice and part-time at the University of Dundee. Her research has been mainly cariology (minimal intervention), paediatric (Child Friendly) dentistry, marginalised commnities and educational focussed. She have undertaken 2 UK-wide child dental research projects, the FiCTION Trial where we looked at 3 different ways of caring for children’s carious primary teeth in general dental practice and the ongoing BRIGHT Trial looking at whether a school lesson and text reminders improves children’s toothbrushing behaviour. Nicola participated in Germany, Lithuania, Australia, Brazil, US and New Zealand based trials and she sits on several guidance development groups. In Dundee she co-led implementation of a new undergraduate curriculum and was Associate Dean for Learning and Teaching for 4 years. Nicola took up the position of Dean of Cardiff Dental School at the beginning of August 2020.

Orcid: Nicola Innes
Research Gate: Nicola Innes

Professor Yanfang Ren

Dr. Ren is Professor at Eastman Institute for Oral Health, University of Rochester Medical Center in Rochester, New York. He graduated from Peking University School of Stomatology in China and received his PhD in odontology in Sweden. He completed residency and fellowship trainings in general dentistry and orofacial pain at Eastman Institute for Oral Health and received his MPH degree from the University of Rochester School of Medicine. Dr. Ren practices general dentistry and provides didactic and clinical training for post-doctoral dental residents and is a clinician scientist involved in clinical and translational oral health research. Dr. Ren has published extensively in a broad range of clinical dentistry areas, and was the recipient of the EIOH Iranpour Award for Excellence in Clinical Education.