I have seen the poor oral health of rural Australians first hand and understand that "throwing more money" at the problem to improve access to dental care is not sustainable in the longer term, that any interventions need to be cost-effective, and that a preventive population health and minimal intervention approaches are needed to improve oral health.

I am the Professor of Rural Oral Health at La Trobe University, an Honorary Professor in Dentistry at the University of Papua New Guinea and a Visiting Research Fellow at the Australian Research Centre for Population Oral Health (ARCPOH) at the University of Adelaide. I have worked as a private dental practitioner in rural and regional areas of Australia, as the State Coordinator of the Tasmanian Dental Service and consulted for the Australian Graduate Dental Year Program. I currently consult for the Rural Flying Doctor Service in Tasmania, the University of Papua New Guinea Dental District and am the Patron of the Papua New Guinea Dental Association.

I completed my PhD in oral health outcomes in 2009 to obtain the necessary research skills to improve community oral health, and since then have published over 70 papers in peer-reviewed journals, presented at over 130 conferences, drafted over 40 submissions and reports, and led a collaboration between the Universities of Adelaide, Tasmania and Western Australia in the successful application to establish an APHCRI Centre for Research Excellence in Primary Oral Health Care. As well as overseeing eight research projects under four themes (successful aging and oral health, rural oral health, Indigenous oral health and the oral health of people with special needs), my role was to advise Commonwealth policy makers on oral health. I have also been awarded a NHMRC Translating Research into Practice (TRIP) Fellowship in aged care oral health.
I have now reached a stage in my life where I want to use my research skills, professional experience and numerous contacts within the dental world and in health administration to improve the oral health of rural Australians and in Papua New Guineans. I also want to leave a legacy of developing free-thinking national and international oral health researchers and leaders who will continue my work.