These senior researchers will support the research by providing expert input to the various work packages. They will also be involved in the training and capacity strengthening component by delivering short courses and participating in the mentorship programme.
Disclaimer:
This research was funded by the NIHR (NIHR132731) using UK international development funding from the UK Government to support global health research. The views expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the UK government.
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Richard Watt is a Professor and Honorary Consultant in Dental Public Health in the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, UCL. He is the Director of the World Health Organisation, Collaborating Centre on Oral Health Inequalities and Public Health and is also Director of Research, Development and Innovation for Central North-West London NHS Foundation Trust. He graduated from University of Edinburgh Dental School in 1984 and then completed a MSc and PhD in Dental Public Health at UCL.
His main research interests focus on social and commercial determinants of oral health inequalities and development and evaluation of community-based health improvement interventions. He provides public health advice on oral health policy to various national and international organisations. He is the founder and co-lead of the International Centre for Oral Health Inequalities Research and Policy. In 2014 he received the International Association of Dental Research (IADR) Distinguished Scientist Award for Behavioural, Epidemiologic and Health Services Research and in 2020 the IADR Distinguished Scientist Award for Global Oral Health Research. In 2016 he gained a Senior Investigator award by the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR). In 2019 he led the publication of a Lancet Series on Oral Health and from 2020 has co-led the Lancet Commission on Oral Health.
Richard is currently co-leading the CORE Programme.
Carol Guarnizo-Herreño is a Colombian public health dentist and researcher. Her research interests include the socioeconomic inequalities in oral health and the social determinants of health, the influence of macro-level factors (related to the economic and political context) on population oral health and patterns of inequalities, dental care services and public policies, and the relationships between dental health and certain aspects of quality of life including psychosocial wellbeing, and work and schooling performance.
Currently she works at the National University of Colombia where, in addition to teaching, she is responsible for supervising students on their dissertation projects. Previous to her academic career, Carol worked at the Colombian National Institute of Health and the Secretariat of Health Bogota. Carol holds a BSc in Dentistry and an MSc in Public Health from the National University of Colombia and a PhD in Epidemiology and Public Health from UCL (University College London).
Carol is currently co-leading the CORE Programme.
Michelle Stennett is a Clinical Research Fellow working with the NIHR Global Oral Health group at University College London. She is currently supporting the work of the Lancet Commission on Oral Health and is also actively involved in teaching, supporting, and supervising undergraduate and postgraduate students at UCL. She is also a Senior Special Care Dentist and Research Lead for Hertfordshire Special Care Dental Service.
Michelle graduated as a dentist from the University of Bristol. She has worked within several Community Dental Services across England and has extensive experience of providing clinical treatment for adult and paediatric patients with special care needs. She is a Sedation Training Accreditation Committee (STAC) approved clinical supervisor for dental conscious sedation (Royal College of Surgeons England). Michelle completed her Membership of the Faculty of Dental Surgeons examinations at the Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh, holds a MSc in Dental Public Health from UCL and a Postgraduate Diploma in Global Health and Development from UCL. She is also an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Her research interests include child and adolescent health (childhood obesity, dental care for children and adolescents with autism and learning disabilities), ethnicity and health, and the oral health of vulnerable and marginalised communities globally.
Michelle is supporting the design and development of CORE Programme research activities.
Louise is a Programme Co-ordinator working with the NIHR Global Oral Health group at University College London (UCL).
Louise graduated with BA Honours in Sociology from Goldsmith’s College, University of London in 1999 and has worked in Teaching and Research Administration as part of the Dental Public Health Group at UCL since 2003. Prior to this Louise worked as a Data Manager in Cancer Clinical Trials at Imperial College London.
Louise has been supporting the CORE project since its initial funding application in 2020.
Chantelle is a Programme Manager working with the NIHR Global Oral Health group at University College London (UCL).
Chantelle graduated with LLB Honours in Law from Coventry University. In 2012, she secured the position of Project Coordinator at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). At LSHTM she managed many multi-million pound public health projects like SHARE a £16 million sanitation and hygiene research project funded by FCDO (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) and MAPSAN a £4.3 million project on sanitation mapping funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Chantelle later obtained a Masters in Development Management and worked her way up to Project Manager where she line managed three Project Coordinators as well as overseeing a portfolio of projects owned by her research group.
Chantelle joined University College London in February 2023 to work as Programme Manager for the CORE programme.
Manu is a Dental Surgeon with more than 15 years of global experience of working in different health systems. He is currently working as Professor of Dental Public Health at Queen Mary University of London and Head of Health Policy at Public Health Foundation of India. He has a PhD in Epidemiology and Population Health from University College London and a Masters in Public Health from the University of Glasgow.
His research focuses on risk factors for Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), especially tobacco cessation. Throughout his career, Professor Mathur has been an advocate for the Universal Health Coverage philosophy and played an active role in ensuring that appropriate quality oral health care is available, affordable, and accessible for all, across different health systems.
Manu is a Commissioner on the Lancet Commission on Global Oral Health and Incoming President of the Global Oral Health Inequalities Research Network of International Association for Dental Research. He has more than 100 peer-reviewed publications in leading international journals, has been the principal investigator on many projects funded by Government of India, WHO, MRC-UK, BMGF, USAID and NIH-USA. His areas of expertise cover epidemiologic methods, operations, health systems and policy research, and health promotion. He has also recently been recognised in the top two per cent of impact-making researchers worldwide in the field of Medicine and Public Health.
Manu is currently supporting the CORE Programme research in India and is co-leading the monitoring and evaluation and training & capacity building components of the programme.
Al Ross is a Chartered Ergonomist and Psychologist and Professor of Health Systems at Staffordshire University where he is course lead for the part-time distance learning MSc in Human Factors for Patient Safety.
Al’s research applies Human Factors and general systems theory to patient safety, service quality and public health. He is chiefly known for developing theory and method in Resilient Health Care, an influential area of organisational science, and has published over 100 journal articles, books, book chapters and peer-reviewed conference papers.
Al’s recent research includes: studying optimal fluoride-based prevention programmes for dental caries across 6 South East European countries funded by the Borrow Foundation; looking at systems for early detection of head and neck cancer across 17 countries in Europe and South America funded by the EU Commission; co-designing a home toothbrushing intervention for families in need of support which was rolled out this year across 14 territorial Health Boards by NHS Scotland.
Al’s other recent research funders include the Office of the Chief Scientist (Scotland) and the Health Foundation. He is Honorary Senior Lecturer at Glasgow Dental School and Honorary Fellow, Dundee Medical School.
Professor Ross will support the development of the theory of change and supervise qualitative data collection and analysis for the CORE programme.
David Conway – Professor of Dental Public Health in University of Glasgow and Dental Lead in Public Health Scotland.
David is currently the Director of Dental Research, and Lead of the Community Oral Health Group in Glasgow Dental School. He is also the Oral & Dental Clinical Research Specialty Group co-lead for NHS Research Scotland and the Chief Scientist Office.
David’s research interests have global health ambitions, are focused on understanding and tackling oral health inequalities – especially related to head and neck cancer and child oral health. David leads the evaluation of the Childsmile – national child oral health improvement programme for Scotland; and is currently co-leading the monitoring & evaluation and training & capacity building components of the CORE programme.
Professor Abhishek Mehta (BDS, MDS) is an alumni of Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Karnataka, India. He has more than 17 years of academic experience in the field of Dental Public Health and is currently head of the Department of Public Health Dentistry at Jamia Millia Islamia University in New Delhi. His areas of research are dental epidemiology and data analysis, tobacco-based research, conducting evidence-based reviews and qualitative surveys. He has published more than 35 scientific articles in reputed journals. His current h index is 15 with more than 1000 citations. He is on the reviewer and editorial board of many prestigious dental journals and is currently the Associate Editor of the Pierre Fauchard academy journal. He has been on the examiner panels of esteemed institutions in India and Nepal. He lectures for various dental institutions in India on research proposal writing, scientific writing and conducting systematic reviews.
Professor Mehta will lead CORE research activities in India.
Paulo Sávio Angeiras de Goes graduated in Dentistry from the Federal University of Pernambuco (1992). He completed a Masters in Dentistry (Pediatric Dentistry) from the University of Pernambuco (1997) and a PhD in Epidemiology and Public Health, University of London (2001). He served from 1994 to August 2011 as a gazetted professor at the Dept. of Social Dentistry at the Faculty of Dentistry of the University of Pernambuco (FOP-UPE). Currently, he is an Associate Professor at the Dept. of Clinical and Preventive Dentistry at UFPE. He has experience in the field of teaching, research and management. In teaching, he coordinates and teaches undergraduate classes in Dentistry; and in the postgraduate program in Child and Adolescent Health at UFPE. In the area of Research and Postgraduate studies, he is leader of the research group Planning, management and evaluation of health services-GESTBUCAL, which constitutes his main line of research, carrying out scientific initiation, master’s and doctorate orientations regularly. In the management area, he has experience in both academic management, where he held the positions of Coordinator of the Undergraduate Course and Head of the Department of Social Dentistry-FOP-UPE (2004-2005); as well as in the management of the SUS, where he held the position of Municipal Health Secretary in two administrations (1997, 2005-2006) in medium-sized municipalities, as well as holding positions in the area of planning and epidemiology. As a result of this work, he also works as an organizational planning consultant for public bodies (Ministry of Health and City Halls). He served as Director of Teaching Development at UFPE from 2014-2015 and Pro-Rector of Academic Affairs-PROACAD at UFPE (2015-2019) and from 2019 onwards he held the position of Coord. of Research at the Faculty of Medicine of Olinda-FMO and in 2021 he became Academic Director of the Faculty of Medicine of Olinda-FMO.
Professor Goes will lead CORE programme activities in Brazil
Aluísio J D Barros trained as an MD in Brazil (1983), and then did a Masters in Statistics in the Universidade Estadual de Campinas, SP, Brazil. That was followed by a PhD in the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Maternal & Child Epi Unit, completed in 1996. In the same year, Aluísio joined the Department of Social Medicine, Universidade Federal de Pelotas (UFPel), Brazil, where he currently holds the post of Full Professor.
He has a strong interest in methods, teaching the advanced statistics courses for postgraduate students. Currently, his main line of work is health equity, with a focus in global monitoring of Sustainable Development Goals. He is also one of the PIs of the Pelotas birth cohorts, with an interest in mental health and child development. In 2009, Prof. Cesar Victora and Aluísio started the International Center for Equity in Health (ICEH) with the objective of monitoring health inequalities in low and middle-income countries. The Center works in close partnership with the Countdown to 2030, the WHO Global Health Observatory and UNICEF.
Aluisio will lead work package 1.1 (Mapping patterns of socioeconomic inequalities in oral health) of the CORE programme.
Regina Mutave a senior lecturer at the University of Nairobi. She holds a Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Community and Preventive Dentistry from the University of Nairobi and an MSc in Dental Public Health from the University of the Western Cape (South Africa). She graduated with a Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) degree from the University of Nairobi (1993), a Master of Research Degree in Health Geography from the University of St. Andrews, Scotland (2003), and a Post-graduate Diploma in Biomedical Research Methodology of the University of Nairobi (2011). She is a registered specialist in Public Health (Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council). She has extensive knowledge in Community and Preventive Dentistry and was involved in the planning and implementation of the first Kenya National Oral Health Survey in 2015.
Prof Mutave continues to mentor dental students and young dentists on the importance of preventive approaches to dental diseases. She has published extensively and undertaken research studies on tobacco cessation and other preventive interventions.
Prof Mutave is very passionate about improving oral health literacy and providing solutions to improve oral health especially of marginalised groups. She will be joint lead on WP2 and will lead and support research, training and CEI activities in Kenya.
Prof Mutave will lead CORE programme activities in Kenya.
Mirai Chatterjee is the Director of the Social Security Team at the Self-Employed Women’s Association, (SEWA). She is also Chairperson of the SEWA Cooperative Federation of 110 women’s primary cooperatives. In addition, she is responsible for SEWA’s health care, childcare and insurance programmes. She was Chairperson of the National Insurance VimoSEWA Cooperative Ltd and the Lok Swasthya SEWA Health Cooperative and is actively involved in both as a board member and founder. She joined SEWA in 1984 and was its General Secretary after its Founder, Ela Bhatt.
Mirai serves as Chairperson of the global informal workers and policy-makers network, WIEGO (Women in Informal Employment Globalising and Organising), and on the Boards of several organizations, including Indian Institute of Public Health at Gandhinagar (IIPH-G) in Gujarat, India and the Schwab Foundation for social entrepreneurship. She was advisor to the National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganized Sector and is in the Advisory Group on Community Action of the National Health Mission. She was also a Commissioner in the World Health Organization’s Commission on the Social Determinants of Health. She was a member of the National Advisory Council (NAC), appointed by the Prime Minister of India in 2010. She was conferred the Global Achievement award by the School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University.
Mirai has a B.A. from Harvard University in History and Science and a master’s from Johns Hopkins University’s School of Public Health, USA.
CEI activities in India will be led by Mirai Chatterjee
Kamila graduated with an honours in dentistry from the National University of Colombia in 2022.
She is currently on a scholarship and is pursuing a master’s degree in public health at the National University of Colombia.
Kamila is a research assistant, and responsible for the administrative and financial management of the CORE programme and study 3.2 (Barriers to accessing dental services amongst disadvantaged population groups) in Colombia.
Lorena is a dentist with a master’s degree in public health from the National University of Colombia. She has experience in the formulation, design, and implementation of public health policies in Colombia. She has also worked in research and the development of evidence-based public policy recommendations.
Lorena will be leading the research on work package three, the training and capacity building component and the responsive research fund in Colombia.
Luis Alberto is a Colombian public health dentist and researcher. He graduated from the National University of Colombia, with a specialisation in Family and Community Health. He holds an MSc and PhD in Bioethics from El Bosque University.
Luis Alberto is currently Associate Professor in the Department of Collective Health, Faculty of Dentistry at the National University of Colombia and a full Professor at the Faculty of Health Sciences, Ibero-American University Corporation. He is a member of the Advisory Committee of the Unesco Bioethics Network for Latin America and the Caribbean.
Luis Alberto has experience as editor of serial publications in the field of bioethics, oral health and physiotherapy; with participation in ethics committees in human research.
Luis Alberto is the expert advisor on qualitative research to the Colombian team.
Dr Barsha Priya Deka, BDS, MDS. is an alumnus of Jaipur Dental College, Rajasthan, India. She has over a year of diverse experience as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Health Dentistry at Jaipur Dental College with multiple roles within the dental field where she was responsible for educating and mentoring undergraduate dental students.
Barsha’s academic area focuses on the integration of public health principles in dental practices, aiming to foster a comprehensive understanding of community health amongst students.
Barsha’s research interests are focused on understanding the impact of tobacco use on oral health, as well as the broader implications for public health.
Barsha has authored several scientific papers that were published in esteemed dental journals. She is also the author of the book “Dental Tourism” which highlights the significance of conducting thorough research when seeking dental care aboard. The book offers practical advice and valuable insights on how to select reputable dental clinics and destinations.
Barsha currently works as a Research Associate at faculty of Dentistry, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. She will be working with Professor Abhishek Mehta to deliver the CORE programme in India.
She practiced dentistry in Coimbatore and Bengaluru for over three years and led an oral health outreach initiative at Universal Elder Care Centre, Coimbatore.
Shehnaz currently works as a Research Associate at the Public Health Foundation of India. She will be working with Professor Manu Mathur to deliver the CORE programme in India.
Dr Rênnis Silva is a Brazilian dentist with a master’s degree in Dental Sciences (2022) and a PhD in Public Oral Health (2024) from the Federal University of Paraíba, during which he completed a doctoral exchange at the National University of Colombia. He is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Federal University of Pernambuco and a member of the Community-focused Oral-health Research for Equity (CORE) programme, where he contributes to research on oral health inequalities and supports the Training & Capacity Building component.
Dr Carolina Thaiza Costa Pazos holds a degree in Dentistry from the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE) (2012). Since that time, she has been engaged in extension projects, research, and tutoring. She is a specialist in Paediatric Dentistry through the residency programme at the Professor Fernando Figueira Integral Medicine Institute (IMIP) / Pernambuco State Health Secretariat (2015). She completed her Master’s degree (2017) and her PhD (2024) in Child and Adolescent Health at UFPE, conducting research and providing academic guidance in the area of morbidity and mortality among children and adolescents; the construction and validation of instruments; and the planning, management, and evaluation of health services. In this research area, she participated in the Health Services Evaluation Group at IMIP and served as the technical research coordinator under a Letter of Agreement between IMIP and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). She has experience in both private and public institutions, in both the healthcare and teaching sectors at the technical and higher education levels.
Her research interests include: oral health; child and adolescent health; public health; the construction and validation of instruments; the planning, management, and evaluation of health services; and the oral health of globally vulnerable and marginalised communities.
Carolina is responsible for developing work package three research activities and community engagement and involvement within the CORE Programme in Brazil.
Dr. Ana Beatriz is a dentist from the Federal University of Pernambuco, a specialist in Family Health, and holds a Master’s and PhD in Public Health from the University of Pernambuco. She is a postdoctoral fellow at the Federal University of Pernambuco.
As a professor, Ana Beatriz teaches several undergraduate and graduate courses in public health.
As a municipal public administrator for Recife, she served as coordinator of the Oral Health Policy (2010-2015), Primary Care Manager (2016-2017), Manager of Health District 7 (2017-2019), General Manager of Health District 5 (2019-2023), and is currently part of the management team of the School of Health of the Recife Health Department.
Ana Beatriz will lead the second work package and the responsive research fund in Brazil.
Benard Muchoki is an accomplished project management and health informatics professional with over 20 years of experience in research, monitoring & evaluation (M&E), and data-driven decision-making. He holds a Master of Information Systems a Bachelor of Science in Information Sciences (IT major), and a Diploma in Project Management. Additionally, he completed a two year Health Informatics Fellowship at the University of Nairobi in collaboration with the University of Washington.
Muchoki has successfully led and coordinated high-impact projects. His expertise extends to strategic planning, data quality assurance, and stakeholder capacity building, working closely with government agencies, donors, and development partners.
As a researcher and consultant, Muchoki has contributed to studies on climate security, violent extremism, and gender policy. He has developed data collection tools, conducted data analysis and report writing, facilitated stakeholder engagements, and provided actionable policy recommendations.
Currently, Muchoki is a researcher within the CORE Programme, engaged in proposal development, data analysis and reporting efforts to inform evidence-based decision-making in Kenya’s oral health sector. His dedication to leveraging technology and analytics for impactful project outcomes is a key contribution to shaping public health and health governance initiatives.
Teddy Kitili earned his Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Digital Media from KCA University. With a strong foundation in media, public communication, and community outreach, he has cultivated a career that bridges storytelling and social impact. Over the years, he has contributed to various media organizations. Teddy’s professional interests lie in using communication as a tool for health promotion, particularly within underrepresented and linguistically diverse communities and has a keen ability to connect with grassroots audiences. His work in informal settlements has contributed to increasing community awareness around health, education, and social wellbeing.
Teddy is responsible for Community Engagement and Involvement within the CORE Programme in Kenya.
Joyce Mutuku is a public health nutritionist with a strong background in research, including longitudinal studies, ethnographic surveys, and evidence-based program development. She holds a Master of Public Health (MPH) from Kenyatta University and a Bachelor’s degree in Foods, Nutrition and Dietetics from the same institution. Joyce has further strengthened her academic credentials with a Certificate in Monitoring and Evaluation from AMREF International University.
Her professional expertise includes proposal writing, survey design, both quantitative and qualitative research methods, data analysis and comprehensive report writing. Joyce’s blend of hands-on experience and academic training enables her to contribute meaningfully to research and public health program implementation.
Currently, Joyce serves as a researcher within the CORE Programme, where she is actively involved in proposal development, data analysis, and reporting to inform evidence-based decision-making in Kenya’s oral health sector.
Dr Kranti Suresh Vora is an obstetrician turned public health professional. She has medical degrees (MBBS DGO & MD) from B. J. Medical College, Ahmedabad. Dr Vora completed her MPH at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Baltimore, USA and holds a PhD from University of Maryland, College Park, USA.
Dr Vora has collaborated internationally with the Karolinska Institute, University of Aberdeen, McGill University and University of Canberra among others. She has worked in Indian states such as Rajasthan, Bihar and Meghalaya in addition to extensive work in Gujarat.
Dr Vora has worked with international NGOs and development agencies such as UNICEF in Afghanistan and BRAC in Bangladesh. She has received research grants from WHO, World Bank and the EU in addition to Indian agencies such as DST. Her area of interest includes Reproductive child health, Health policy, Health System strengthening, Implementation research, Demographic Surveillance, Health innovations, Cancer research.
Dr Vora is responsible for Lok Swasthya SEWA’s research activities under the CORE programme.
Dr. Starry John Dcruz is a dentist turned public health professional with over 10 years of experience in dentistry. Her passion for public health dentistry led her to transition into the public health domain. For the past four years, she has been serving as the Programme Coordinator at Lok Swasthya SEWA, where she leads initiatives focused on community health, prevention, and health equity, driven by her commitment to impactful grassroots healthcare.
Starry is responsible for the coordination of Lok Swasthya SEWA’s activities within the CORE programme.
Nikita Parmar holds a BA in Sociology and a Master of Social Work from the renowned Gujarat Vidyapith. She has conducted research on labour issues and served as a counsellor at Samras Hospital, Rajkot during the COVID-19 pandemic. She currently works as Lok Swasthya SEWA’s CEI Coordinator under the CORE programme. In this role, Nikita leads community engagement initiatives focused on women’s empowerment and social development, demonstrating her dedication to grassroots change and inclusive progress.
Nilcema Figueiredo is an Associate Professor of the Academic Area of Public Health at the Federal University of Pernambuco (2009-). She graduated in Dentistry (1996). She achieved a Specialist in Public Health Residency in 2001, a Masters in 2004 and a Doctorate in Public Health from University of Pernambuco in 2008. She was a Specialist in Health Informatics from Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte in 2022 and a Specialist in Digital Health from Federal University of Goiás in 2023. Nilcema has gained experience in public management in the cities of Moreno (2000-2001) and Recife (2001-2008). She has further experience in university management (2016-2020) at Federal University of Pernambuco. She coordinates research, teaching extension programs/actions in the areas: Policy, Planning and Evaluation of health services and programs, oral health surveillance and digital health. She was deputy national coordinator of the external evaluation of the Program to Improve Access and Quality of Dental Specialty Centers (PMAQ/CEO) (2011-2020). She currently coordinates a digital health project to analyze the use of the web-based platform GestBucalSD.
Nilcema contributes to CORE research as part of the Local Programme Development Group in Brazil.
Gabriela da Silveira Gaspar holds a degree in Dentistry from the University of Pernambuco (UPE), with a specialisation in Public Health, as well as a Master’s and PhD in Dentistry, with a concentration in Public Health. She is a researcher with the GestBucal research group, where she develops projects in the fields of oral health planning and evaluation, oral epidemiology, oral health management, digital health and health technologies, health promotion, and quality of life related to oral health.She has contributed to key projects such as “Management of Oral Health Information in Primary Health Care” and “Evaluation of the Centres for Dental Specialties (CEOs)”. She worked as an assistant researcher at the Aggeu Magalhães Research Centre – Fiocruz, within the Human Resources Laboratory.
Dr Gaspar also served as a public health specialist (sanitarista) in the Health Surveillance sector of the municipality of Jaboatão dos Guararapes (Recife Metropolitan Area), gaining experience with information systems within the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS) and participating in maternal and infant mortality surveillance committees. She worked as a substitute lecturer in the Dentistry course at the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE), teaching modules within the Public Health axis. She also held a technical role at the State Health Department of Pernambuco (SES/PE), within the Executive Secretariat of Health Surveillance.
Dr Gaspar was a member of the Public Policy Committee of the Federal Council of Dentistry (CFO) and the Public Policy Committee of the Regional Council of Dentistry of Pernambuco (CRO/PE). She also contributed as an institutional supporter for the PMAQ-CEO – 2nd cycle. She is currently a permanent lecturer at the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE) in the Public Health programme, and serves as Coordinator of Quality of Life at the Pro-Rectory for Personnel Management. Additionally, she is a researcher with the SARED group, where she develops studies and initiatives addressing health, ethnic-racial relations, and social inequalities.
Gabriela contributes to CORE research as part of the Local Programme Development Group in Brazil.
Sharon Friel is an Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow, Professor of Health Equity and Director of the Planetary Health Equity Hothouse and Menzies Centre for Health Governance at the School of Regulation and Global Governance, Australian National University. Her research focuses on the political economy of health, governance and the planetary, social and commercial determinants of health inequities. Her book “Climate Change and the People’s Health” highlights the importance of addressing the global consumptogenic system.
She is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences of Australia and the Academy of Health and Medical Sciences of Australia and on the Board of Directors of Health Justice Australia and the National Suicide Prevention Office Advisory Board.
Sharon will support the CORE programme research by providing expert input to the various work packages.
Cristin Kearns is an Associate Professor in Preventive and Restorative Dental Sciences and the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).
She first saw the devastating effects of sugar as Dental Director of Inner City Health Center, a low-income clinic in Colorado. She is one of the first academics to rigorously study the influence of the sugar industry on health and policy. Her research has been published in high-impact journals including PLOS Medicine, PLOS Biology, JAMA Internal Medicine, Science, and The Lancet. Cristin’ document collection efforts culminated in the launch of the UCSF Food Industry Documents Archive (FIDA), which now contains 400,000 pages of sugar industry-related documents that are digitized and searchable. The FIDA is modelled after the UCSF Truth Tobacco Industry Documents Library, which revolutionized the field of tobacco control by making internal documents accessible to scientists, policymakers, advocates, and the public.
Cristin was named one of the 32 Most Influential Dentists in the US by Incisal Edge Magazine in 2019. She received her Doctor of Dental Surgery degree from the University of North Carolina, and Master in Business Administration degree from the University of Colorado, Denver.
Cristin will support the CORE programme research by providing expert input to the various work packages.
Blánaid Daly is Dean of Dental Affairs and Head of School at the School of Dental Science, Trinity College Dublin (TCD), University of Dublin, Ireland. She is Professor of Special Care Dentistry / Consultant at the Dublin Dental University Hospital (DDUH) Ireland. After qualifying as a dentist from TCD she worked in the Irish community dental service followed by the Dublin Dental Hospital. She joined the Dental School at King’s College London (KCL) and studied for a PhD in Dental Public Health (DPH). For the last 30 years she has combined her academic interest in DPH with the clinical specialty of Special Care Dentistry (SCD). SCD concerns the improvement of the oral health of individuals and groups with physical, sensory, intellectual, mental, medical, emotional or social impairment or disability. She returned to TCD in 2016 as Professor (full) of Special Care Dentistry and (2017) Head of the Department of Public & Child Dental Health. In 2020 she was appointed to the Lancet Commission on Global Oral Health Inequalities and was joint winner of the Aubrey Sheiham award for distinguished research in Dental Public Health, from the International Association of Dental Research (IADR). She is a member of the scientific committee of the international Association of Disability and Oral Health (iADH) . Her overarching research interest is the reduction of oral health inequalities for people living with disability and vulnerable groups.
Blánaid will support the CORE programme research by providing expert input to the various work packages.
Marco A Peres is a dentist who graduated from the University of Sao Paulo (USP) Faculty of Dentistry, Brazil with a PhD in Epidemiology from USP and University College London. After almost 20 years at the Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil, in 2012, he was appointed as a Professor in Population Oral Health and Director of the Australian Research Centre for Population Oral Health (ARCPOH), School of Dentistry, University of Adelaide, Australia. In 2018 he took a position as a Professor of Dental and Oral Health Research, School of Dentistry and Oral Health, Griffith University, Australia. Currently, he is a Research Director and Senior Principal Investigator at the National Dental Research Institute Singapore and Professor and Director of Academic Clinical Programme Oral Health, Health Services and Systems Research Programme, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore. His research areas of interest include the effectiveness of oral health-related policies, health services research, big data linkage, oral health surveillance, fluorides, inequalities in oral health, global oral health, life course epidemiology and the relationship between oral health and general health.
Currently, Marco is the President of the International Association for Dental Research Global Oral Health Inequalities Research Network and a member of the Lancet Commission on Oral Health. Marco has been cited in a paper published in 2016 in Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology (doi: 10.1111/cdoe.12249) as the seventh most productive researcher in Public Health Dentistry in the world in the last half-century. Marco has been cited among the top 2% of scientists in the world (September 2020). He was the recipient of the 2017 International Association for Dental Research (IADR) Distinguished Scientist Award for Global Oral Health Research. Since 2002 Marco has had continuous funding grants from Brazilian, Australian and Singaporean agencies with 15 project grants over this period totalling over AU$ 10 million. Marco has supervised 40 postgraduate students, authored three books, 15 book chapters and more than 250 peer-reviewed papers. His work has received more than 20,000 citations, an H index of 79.
Marco will support the CORE programme research by providing expert input to the various work packages.
Ankur Singh is an Australian Research Council DECRA Senior Research Fellow with joint appointments between Melbourne School of Population and Global Health and Melbourne Dental School. Ankur has research training in social epidemiology and he applies a range of quantitative skills to quantify the impact of policy interventions on health inequalities.
His research contributions are in the area of population oral health, tobacco control and social determinants of health. Ankur is also an Adjunct Fellow at Public Health Foundation of India and collaborates extensively with colleagues locally and internationally. Ankur is an Associate Editor of the Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology journal and holds leadership positions both within the International Association for Dental Research Global Oral Health Inequalities Research Network and IUHPE.
Ankur will support the CORE programme research by providing expert input to the various work packages.
