Industry satellite symposiums

Professor Nicola West: BDS, FDS RCS(Eng), PhD, FDS (Rest Dent) RCS, FHEA RCS Ed FHEA

Nicola West is Professor and Honorary Consultant in Restorative Dentistry at Bristol Dental School, and the Director of the Clinical Trials Unit conducting research in the international forum, attracting substantial funding from industry, charities and NIHR funding streams. Current research interests are investigating the associations between periodontal diseases and systemic diseases and conditions including Alzheimer’s Disease & Parkinson’s Disease, cardiovascular diseases and cystic fibrosis. Novel clinical periodontal research methodologies are developed alongside the scientific evaluation of oral health care products for gingivitis, tooth wear, dentine hypersensitivity, tooth staining and whitening. Research is also conducted into oral hard and soft tissue augmentation and peri-implant lesions and conditions.

Nicola is President of the British Society of Periodontology and Implant Dentistry and Secretary General of the European Federation of Periodontology (2019-2025).

In parallel Nicola has maintained a thriving periodontal and dental implant specialist practice in the centre of Bristol, a particular sphere of interest includes the management of peri-implantitis lesions

Professor Koula Asimakopoulou: Chartered Psychologist with the British Psychological Society (BPS) and Professor of Health Psychology (Oxford Brookes University)

Chartered Psychologist with the British Psychological Society (BPS) and a Registered Psychologist with the Health Care Professions Council (HCPC), Koula completed her undergraduate training with a first class honours in Psychology in 1995, was awarded her doctorate (PhD) in Health Psychology in 2001 and has since undertaken further training to include qualifications in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), Third Wave CBT therapies and Motivational Interviewing techniques. Koula’s work focuses on helping people take on behaviour change, deal with stressors, fears and phobias as well as supporting them in living with chronic conditions. She also works with healthcare and education professionals delivering patient-centred care in NHS and private settings. Koula is one of three psychologists who set up and delivered the first ever NHS health psychology service designed to help people combat their fear of the dentist at Guy’s Hospital, London. Koula has an extensive record of scientific publications and regularly presents at national and international conferences. She has been an examiner for several UK and international psychology programmes, as well as undergraduate, Masters and PhD students. Part of her work involves looking after patient interests in her position of Chair of the Bromley NHS Research Ethics Committee. She recently led the writing of national guidance on ‘Dentistry during COVID-19: Psychological advice for dental teams, policy makers, and communicators’ supported by the BPS COVID-19 Behavioural Science and Disease Prevention Taskforce and the Faculty of General Dental Practice.

Dr. Charlie Parkinson: Global Medical Affairs Director

Dr Charlie Parkinson is Global Medical Affairs Director: Oral Health at Haleon. He has twenty years’ experience in oral care research, product development and clinical evaluation. His research has included in vitro and in situ modelling of oral diseases and conditions, fMRI of oral conditions, therapeutic approaching in the management of dentine hypersensitivity and erosive toothwear, and the impact of oral conditions on oral health related quality of life. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and Associated Editor for the Journal Preventative Dentistry, with over 70 peer reviewed publications in the field of oral care.

Prof Iain Chapple: Professor of Periodontology and Consultant in Restorative Dentistry; Head of Research for Institute of Clinical Sciences; School of Dentistry, University of Birmingham

Iain Chapple was Head of the School of Dentistry 2016-2020. He continues to be Head of Research for the Institute of Clinical Sciences and lead for Unit of Assessment. He is also Professor and Head of Periodontology within the School, and Honorary Consultant in Restorative Dentistry with Birmingham Community Health Trust.

Iain has published over 240 research papers in the peer reviewed scientific literature, and written and edited 10 textbooks and authored 23 book chapters in the field of Periodontology, Periodontal Medicine and Surgery, Nutrition and Molecular Methods.

Iain is a committed and enthusiastic teacher of undergraduate and postgraduate students within Birmingham, nationally and internationally on various graduate programs across Europe, North America and the Asia-Pacific.

Iain is a former Scientific Editor of the British Dental Journal, former Associate Editor of Journal of Periodontal Research and the Journal of Clinical Periodontology, and current Associate Editor of Periodontology 2000.

Iain was President of the International Association for Dental Research (IADR) Periodontal Research Group (PRG-2006-7), Treasurer (2007-2013) and Secretary General (2016-2019) of the European Federation of Periodontology (EFP) and is currently Treasurer of the UK Oral and Dental Research Trust. He co-chairs the annual EFP workshops (research and education).

Iain is clinical lead for a hospital regional specialist periodontal service and a national oral care service for adult Epidermolysis Bullosa patients.

Iain was awarded an MBE in the 2022 Queen’s honours list for services to Oral and Dental Health.

Dr. Praveen Sharma: Associate Professor & Honorary Consultant in Restorative Dentistry; School of Dentistry, University of Birmingham

Dr Sharma is an Associate Professor & Honorary Consultant in Restorative Dentistry at the School of Dentistry in the University of Birmingham. He was appointed as a Honorary consultant in Restorative Dentistry in 2021. He completed his PhD in 2019, funded by the NIHR (National Institute for Health Research) as part of the Doctoral Research Fellowship (DRF).

His research expertise lies in the fields of big data, epidemiology, medical statistics and the interface between oral and systemic diseases. Praveen’s research has won him numerous accolades and he has been invited by national and international periodontal societies to present his research. Praveen is a calibrated assessor of dental indices used in clinical studies.

Praveen’s clinical training is in the field of Restorative Dentistry, encompassing periodontics, endodontics and prosthodontics.

Praveen is currently Head of Teaching in Periodontology and Year lead for BDS3. Praveen is responsible for the OSCEs (Objective Structured Clinical Exam) in Periodontology for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th year BDS students. In addition, Praveen supervises BDS students undertaking treatments on clinic and delivers teaching to BDS, Hygiene and Therapy as well as Nursing students. This teaching takes the form of lectures, tutorials and small-group teaching.

Dr. Maria-Teresa Addison: Medical and Scientific Affairs Director at Haleon

Dr Maria-Teresa Addison is a Global Medical and Scientific Affairs Director at Haleon. She holds a Chemistry degree from the University of Oxford and a PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of Bristol, where she worked under Prof. Tim Gallagher.

She began her career as a research chemist at Glaxo Wellcome before joining Procter & Gamble, where she spent over 11 years in R&D and technology development across dry laundry and prestige colour cosmetics designing and delivering products to unmet consumer needs.

In 2016, she moved to GSK Consumer Healthcare (now Haleon), contributing across all oral health categories and leading projects including Sensodyne Rapid Relief. She later spent five years directing early-stage innovation in gum, family oral health, and denture care.

Maria-Teresa recently transitioned into Medical Affairs, bringing together deep technical expertise and strong consumer understanding.