Report contributors

Dr Nicole Stormon is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Queensland and AHPRA registered Oral health therapist. The current and inaugural Program Convenor for the School of Dentistry’s Doctor of Dental Medicine. She is also the Principal Research Fellow for Queensland Health Metro North Community and Oral Health.  An alumnus of the University of Queensland for her undergraduate and postgraduate training, Nicole has become an internationally recognised leader and advocate in Oral Health Therapy.

Large scale data management and quantitative statistical are key skills applied within her research. Health service research is a central theme of her research, with ongoing collaborations with Queensland Health to develop evidence-based and cost-effective models of dental care for children and disadvantaged groups, including people experiencing homelessness. Experienced in relevant HSR research methods including qualitative and scoping methods. Being a clinician herself and her effective collaborations to the health service are key to bridging the knowledge-implementation gap.

Professor Loc Do is a highly accomplished dentist and oral epidemiologist with a keen interest in social and clinical oral epidemiology. He holds a PhD in Oral Epidemiology from the University of Adelaide and has served as a lead investigator in several national oral health studies. Currently, he is the Chief Investigator A of three major NHMRC-funded and one MRFF research projects, including a population-based birth cohort study exploring the impact of socioeconomic inequality on child oral health, a longitudinal study examining the effect of early life fluoride exposure, and a study investigating the effectiveness of water fluoridation in Queensland.

Professor Do’s research interests encompass a broad range of topics, including oral epidemiological measurement of dental diseases, quantitative analysis of oral epidemiological data, risk and benefit trade-off in the use of fluorides in children, natural history of dental fluorosis, socio-economic inequality in oral health, oral health-related quality of life, smoking as a risk factor for periodontal diseases, and complex systems science in dental research.

Professor Loc Do is widely recognised as a prominent and distinguished leader in dental public health. In 2022, he was awarded the International Association for Dental Research IADR Distinguished Scientist H Trendley Dean Award. He has hosted national workshops on fluoridation and has played a crucial role in developing and publishing the national Australian guidelines on the topic. Through his research and contributions to the field, Professor Do has made significant advances in the knowledge of oral health and identifying effective strategies to improve outcomes for populations across Australia.

As a biostatistician with expertise in dental public health, Christopher is interested in updating the evidence on the impact of policies on oral health and promoting evidence-based dentistry. His research has focused on the effectiveness of water fluoridation in Queensland and its impact on oral epidemiology. Christopher has extensive experience in the application of statistical methods, including designing sampling methods, quantitative data analysis methods, geospatial analysis, statistical programming, data visualization, and multi-level data analysis.

Christopher’s research themes are centred around water fluoridation policy in Queensland and oral epidemiology, and dental initiatives such as the Child Dental Benefits Schedule. He is committed to advancing the field of dental public health and promoting the use of evidence-based policies to improve oral health outcomes for individuals and communities.

Dr Nicole Stormon is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Queensland and AHPRA registered Oral health therapist. The current and inaugural Program Convenor for the School of Dentistry’s Doctor of Dental Medicine. She is also the Principal Research Fellow for Queensland Health Metro North Community and Oral Health.  An alumnus of the University of Queensland for her undergraduate and postgraduate training, Nicole has become an internationally recognised leader and advocate in Oral Health Therapy.

Large scale data management and quantitative statistical are key skills applied within her research. Health service research is a central theme of her research, with ongoing collaborations with Queensland Health to develop evidence-based and cost-effective models of dental care for children and disadvantaged groups, including people experiencing homelessness. Experienced in relevant HSR research methods including qualitative and scoping methods. Being a clinician herself and her effective collaborations to the health service are key to bridging the knowledge-implementation gap.

Melanie Aley (nee Hayes) is currently an Associate Professor and the Bachelor of Oral Health Program Director in the Sydney School of Dentistry. She teaches periodontics and professional practice, as well as transition modules for first-year students. She is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (UK) and an Accredited University-wide Peer Reviewer of Teaching.

Prior to her current role, Mel was the the Head of Work Integrated Learning, in the School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health. Her role involved academic leadership of the WIL team and strategic planning, as well as teaching and coordinating professional placement units in Health Sciences. Previously she was involved in teaching Industry and Community Project Units, which provide senior students from all Faculties the opportunity to work together on real-world problems for industry partners.

William ‘CJ’ Carlson-Jones is an Oral Health Therapist currently working as a Lecturer in the Discipline of Oral Health with the University of Sydney. CJ has clinical experience within public and private dental practice in rural South Australia, and in clinical education previously teaching into the undergraduate and postgraduate oral health programs at the University of Adelaide.

Completing his undergraduate and postgraduate studies in oral health, education and business administration, CJ has strong aspirations to raise awareness of the important roles played by oral health professionals in improving access to care. CJ is also undertaking a Doctor of Philosophy with the University of Queensland. His research is focusing primarily on impact the transitional workforce from dental therapist to oral health therapist might have upon consumers, public dental services, tertiary institutions, and regional areas.

Dr Jennifer Gray is a member of the academic staff in the School of Dentistry, University of Adelaide. She came to the University from a career as a dental practitioner in the public sector for child oral health, and a dental educator and manager in the South Australian Dental Service, at a time when the University took up the challenge of offering a new degree-based programme in Oral Health to educate future oral health therapists. Jennifer accepted an appointment as Senior Lecturer. Jennifer has contributed to bodies such as the Oral Health Advisory Committee, College of Oral Health Academics, the Dental Board of South Australia and the Australian Dental Council. Jenny teaches in the areas of health promotion and population health. She has recently established the Graduate Certificate in Oral Health Science (Adult Therapy). In 2016, Jennifer was appointed Director of the National Oral Health Promotion Clearinghouse.

Tan Nguyen is an early career researcher at the Deakin University Institute for Health Transformation and PhD candidate at Monash University. His research seeks to understand what interventions provide the best value for investment to prevent oral diseases. Tan Nguyen has received a major international award for his work on economic evaluation methods of oral health preventive interventions.

As a biostatistician with expertise in dental public health, Christopher is interested in updating the evidence on the impact of policies on oral health and promoting evidence-based dentistry. His research has focused on the effectiveness of water fluoridation in Queensland and its impact on oral epidemiology. Christopher has extensive experience in the application of statistical methods, including designing sampling methods, quantitative data analysis methods, geospatial analysis, statistical programming, data visualization, and multi-level data analysis.

Christopher’s research themes are centred around water fluoridation policy in Queensland and oral epidemiology, and dental initiatives such as the Child Dental Benefits Schedule. He is committed to advancing the field of dental public health and promoting the use of evidence-based policies to improve oral health outcomes for individuals and communities.