Book contributors

Dr Nicole Stormon is an Oral health therapist and Lecturer the University of Queensland. As an early career researcher, Nicole has published in high quality journals, numerous conference presentation and research collaborations. Nicole observed in clinical practice and research that many people are denied adequate oral health care which can have a significant impact on daily life.

Nicole has worked on a variety of topics in the field of Dental Public Health research. Nicole is passionate about improving the oral health of populations such as the socially disadvantaged, people with special needs and Indigenous Australians through research. Health service research is a key theme of her research, with ongoing collaborations to develop evidence-based and cost-effective models of dental care for children and disadvantaged groups.

Tachae Douglas-Miller is a Dental Science student at the University of Queensland. She is a proud Ngunnawal woman and is passionate about the oral health and wellbeing of Indigenous communities. ‘Dentistry Environment Essentials” is Tachae’s first co-authored textbook. She is proudly representing the wisdom and culture of indigenous peoples and wishes to continue student staff partnerships throughout her studies.  Tachae works in private practice as a dental assistant whilst studying and brings knowledge of the dental environment and the practicalities of infection control in dentistry.

Dr Sowmya Shetty is Lecturer in Dentistry at The University of Queensland, School of Dentistry. She has served in a range of roles within UQ Dentistry, including as Course Coordinator for several courses over the last ten years, Research Higher Degrees Coordinator, Teaching and Learning Chair, Program Coordinator, External Engagement Coordinator and Placements Coordinator. She is focussed on student partnerships for improving course design, assessment and feedback.

Additionally, she is motivated to understand and improve clinical and observational placement experiences for students, especially focussing on interprofessional education. She is currently working on several open educational resources in collaboration with year 1-3 course coordinators to create custom designed open access textbooks for UQ dentistry courses. Some of these are being developed with student partner contribution and feedback, via Student Staff Partnership grants.

Her research interests stemming from her PhD primarily focussed on dental materials testing, especially methodology. She worked to understand dentine permeability and links to bonding mechanisms as well as sensitivity, virtual surface mapping in tooth wear, CAD/CAM, fatigue test design and evaluation, fracture surface analysis and failure forecasting.