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Richard Watt

Professor Richard Watt

Chair and Honorary Consultant in Dental Public Health

NIHR Senior Investigator

Director of Research, Development & Innovation, CNWL, NHS.

(t) +44 (0) 2076791699

(e) r.watt@ucl.ac.uk

Richard Watt is Professor of Dental Public Health in the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, UCL and Director of Research for Central North West London NHS Foundation Trust. He graduated in dentistry from the University of Edinburgh in 1984 and proceeded to study for an MSc and PhD in Dental Public Health at the University of London.

His research has focused on the social determinants of oral health inequalities and the development and evaluation of health improvement interventions.  In 2014 he was awarded the International Association for Dental Research Distinguished Scientist Award for Behavioural, Epidemiologic and Health Services Research and in 2016 the NIHR Senior Investigator Award. He has sat on a variety of expert working groups for the Department of Health, Public Health England, National Institute for Clinical Excellence, WHO and E.U.  He is co-author of Essential Dental Public Health and has published more than 250 publications.

 
Georgios Tsakos

Professor Georgios Tsakos 

Professor and Honorary Consultant 

Dental Public Health Group

(t) +44 (0) 2076795614

(e) g.tsakos@ucl.ac.uk

Prof George Tsakos graduated in Dentistry from the University of Athens, Greece, and completed an MSc and PhD at UCL. He currently works as a Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at UCL. Prof Tsakos also holds Honorary Consultant in Dental Public Health appointments with the Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust and with Public Health England. He is a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health. He is currently Chair Elect of the Platform for Better Oral Health in Europe, and Immediate Past President of the European Association of Dental Public Health (EADPH). He is also an International Association of Dental Research (IADR) Councillor representing the Behavioural Epidemiological and Health Services Research (BEHSR) group. He has also served as EADPH President. 

Prof Tsakos has been a key member of the consortium that carried out the national adult and children's dental health surveys in the UK. He has published more than 150 papers and book chapters and his main research interests are on: subjective measures of oral health and quality of life, oral health inequalities and the social determinants of health, the relationship between oral and general health, and how oral health is linked with diet and nutrition.

 

Anja Heilmann

Dr. Anja Heilmann

Associate Professor

(t) +44 (0) 2076795636

(e) anja.heilmann@ucl.ac.uk

Dr Anja Heilmann is an Associate Professor in Dental Public Health in the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, UCL. She graduated in Dentistry from Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany, and completed an MSc in Dental Public Health and a PhD in Epidemiology at UCL. Her main research interest are the determinants of oral and general health inequalities across the life course, with a particular focus on the role of the social environment.

She is - together with Prof. Tsakos - the Co-Director of the MSc Dental Public Health course and teaches on the MSc DPH and the BSc Population Health programmes. She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

 
Louise Gregory

Louise Gregory

Administrative Teaching & Research Assistant

(t) +44 (0) 2076791950

(e) louise.gregory@ucl.ac.uk

Louise Gregory graduated with a BA (Sociology) in 1999. She is the teaching and research administrator for the Dental Public Health Group, working at UCL since 2003.  Prior to this she worked in Clinical Trials at Imperial College London.

 

Renato Venturelli

Renato Venturelli

Research Assistant

(t) +44 (0) 2076791703

(e) renato.venturelli@ucl.ac.uk

Renato Venturelli works as a Research Assistant for the group since 2017. He graduated as a dentist from the University of Concepcion (UdeC), Chile in 2011. Additionally, he holds a Diploma in Public Health and Healthcare Networks from UdeC and a MSc degree in Dental Public Health from UCL. 

 
Michelle Stennett

Michelle Stennett

Research Assistant

(t) +44 (0) 2876791821

(e) michelle.stennett@ucl.ac.uk

Michelle is a part-time Research Assistant for the Dental Public Health group, and works part-time as a clinical dentist for Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust.

Michelle graduated as a dentist from the University of Bristol. She has mainly worked within Community Dental Services across England, providing treatment for special care and paediatric patients. She completed her Membership of the Faculty of Dental Surgeons examinations at the Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh, and holds a Masters in Dental Public Health from UCL.

 
   
External Speakers and Honorary Staff
 Dr. Paul Batchelor
 Sue Gregory OBE
 Dr. Jenny Godson MBE
 Prof. Tim Newton
 Prof. Paul Brocklehurst
 Prof. Sue Cunningham
 Dr. Huda Yusuf
 Dr. Helen Crawley
 Jenny Oliver
 Anna Ireland
 Dr. Manu Mathur
 Dr. Antiopi Ntouva 
 Dr. Anna Jardine
 Dr. Paula Vassallo
Dr. Anita Mehay
Current PhD students
Alex Blokland
Mohammed Alsaif
Zainab Al-Assmi
Egle Suitaite
Janine Doughty
Jialan Hong
Nadia Khaliq

Aubrey Sheiham 

 

Aubrey Sheiham
 

"Inspirational, radical, iconoclastic, ebullient, courageous, and benevolent are just a few of the words used to describe Professor Aubrey Sheiham. In his illustrious academic career spanning over 50 years, he made an enormous contribution to clinical dentistry, dental research, oral health policy, and public health. Most dental researchers are experts in specialized areas of interest. Aubrey was different. His expertise covered a diverse range of clinical, epidemiologic, and policy areas. He was a public intellectual who recognized the importance of working with politicians and journalists to achieve change. Long before multidisciplinary working became a fashionable mantra in academia, Aubrey worked across clinical and professional boundaries, raising the profile of oral health to a wider audience. In his stellar academic career, Aubrey achieved so much and greatly influenced generations of dental researchers across the world. He published more than 480 papers in top international journals, including The Lancet and British Medical Journal. Over his career, he received many awards and prestigious prizes"

Biography 

Aubrey was born in 1936 in Graaff-Reinet in the Western Cape of South Africa and completed his BDS at the University of Witwatersrand in 1957. He immediately left apartheid South Africa and moved to London, initially working in general dental practice and then at the Eastman Dental Hospital. In 1961 he moved to The London Hospital Medical College, where he held various clinical academic posts. Aubrey's early interest in community dentistry steadily grew and eventually became his main academic pursuit and lifelong passion. From 1975 to 1984, he was a lecturer, senior lecturer and, finally, reader in community dental health at "The London." In 1984, he was appointed professor and honorary consultant in dental public health at UCL and The London. UCL became his academic home for the rest of his life. Officially "retiring" in 2001, Aubrey tirelessly continued his academic activities there in his role as emeritus professor in dental public health.

Aubrey Sheiham Memorial

A memorial event was held at UCL on the 16th May 2016 to honour the life and work of Professor Aubrey Sheiham. We had over 250 attendees from over 20 countries. The following speakers reflected on the unique and profound contribution that Aubrey made to public health over his career.