Staff Profile

I am a Senior Clinical Lecturer and Honorary Consultant in Paediatric Dentistry at the School of Dental Sciences and Newcastle Dental Hospital. My research interests include oral health economics and child-centred research. I am involved in both teaching and research supervision for undergraduate and postgraduate students. 

Qualifications

• Diploma in Health Economics and Health Policy (PGDip), University of Birmingham (2024)
• Fellowship in Paediatric Dentistry (FDS) of the Royal College of Surgeons of England (2022)
• Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, University of Sheffield (2021)
• Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Sheffield: Developing a child-centred caries-specific preference-based measure for use in economic evaluation (2020)
• Membership in Paediatric Dentistry (MPaed Dent) of the Royal College of Surgeons of England (2018)
• Master of Clinical Research (Merit), University of Sheffield (2017)
• Diploma in Conscious Sedation (PGDip ConSed), Newcastle University (2015)
• Membership of the Faculty of Dental Surgery (MFDS) of the Royal College of Surgeons of England (2013)
• Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS), Newcastle University (2011)

Leadership, Management and Administration

• Lady Estelle Wolfson Emerging Leaders Fellow at the Royal College of Surgeons (England) 2019/2020
• Founder and past Chair of ‘Child Oral health NatioNal rEsearch CollaboraTive’ (CONNECT), an award-winning group for trainees with an interest in child oral health research
• Past Editor of the Quality Improvement Briefing supplement for the International Journal of Paediatric Dentistry (formerly the Clinical Effectiveness Bulletin)
• Various roles on regional and national committees relating to academic training and research

Professional and External Standing

• Winner of the Outstanding Innovation Award from the British Society of Paediatric Dentistry 2019 and five other international, national and local prizes
• Scientific Advisory Board member for the Journal of Dental Research: Clinical and Translational Research
• Peer reviewer for multiple journals, including International Journal of Paediatric Dentistry, Journal of Dental Research: Clinical and Translational Research, Value in Health and BDJ:Open for manuscripts in the fields of paediatric dentistry and health economics 
• Over 50 regional, national and international presentations, including at least 20 as an invited or keynote speaker

Teaching

• Involved in teaching paediatric dentistry for BDS and BSc courses
• Chair of the Personal Extenuating Circumstances Committee for the School of Dental Sciences
• Academic Lead for Child Dental Health undergraduate teaching
• Past Chair of the British Society of Paediatric Dentistry Teachers’ Branch

Research and publications

• Previous NIHR Development and Skills Enhancement Award holder
• Previous Doctoral Research Fellow funded by NIHR
• Research collaborations with colleagues across the UK, and internationally, including the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia and New Zealand
• Currently supervising 3 PhD students and 1 MPhil student
• Invited author for a commissioned book chapter in paediatric dentistry
• Over 50 original manuscripts published in peer-reviewed journals - see my ORICID profile (https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5031-5009) for details of publications

Research Interests

My main research interests relate to oral health economics, in particular the generation of Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALYs) in child oral health research. I am also passionate about the meaningful involvement of children and young people in research. Much of my work to date has focussed on the development of a child-centred preference-based measure of dental caries, suitable for use in economic evaluations. I am currently taking steps towards the application and subsequent evaluation of this measure in this field. Throughout this body of work and other studies, I have developed a keen interest in the application of qualitative methodologies to child oral health research. 

Through my work in establishing CONNECT, an award-winning trainee-led research collaborative, I am keen to encourage students and dental professionals in the early stages of their career to consider getting involved in research. Since CONNECT was founded in 2017, the group have undertaken five multi-centre studies and provided training in a range of research-related skills. 

I am actively involved in clinical supervision for undergraduate students, and provide clinical skills teaching also. I am involved in the design and delivery of materials for the Diet and Nutrition course and am currently leading the reorganisation of teaching on caries management.