Professor Christopher Tredwin, Head of the University’s Peninsula Dental School (PDS), has been elected as the new Chair of the Dental Schools Council (DSC).
Professor Tredwin is Professor of Restorative Dentistry and a General Dental Council (GDC) Registered Specialist in Endodontics, Periodontics, Prosthodontics and Restorative Dentistry. He was appointed Head of Peninsula Dental School (PDS) in 2012.
Following a successful bid to the government, PDS was established in 2006 and has since established an innovative model of dental education focused on primary care, clinician-led teaching and community engagement. While head of the school Professor Tredwin has overseen the development of a five year Dental programme, a fully integrated Dental Hygiene and Therapy degree programme and three clinical master’s programmes. He was also involved with development of, and serves as a Director on, Peninsula Dental Social Enterprise, a community interest company that runs the NHS side of the school.
As well as serving as head of PDS, Professor Tredwin is an active practitioner and has maintained his passion and commitment to general and specialist dental practice throughout his career. He is also an active researcher having published over 80 papers, supervised 17 PhD students and over 60 Masters projects to date. He forms part of active research groups on nanomaterials and regenerative medicine in Plymouth.
On his new role, Professor Tredwin said:
“I am delighted to be elected as Chair of the Dental Schools Council in order to continue the work of the outgoing Chair, Professor Chris Deery, who has been a brilliant advocate for dental students and staff throughout his tenure. We have made great progress in public dental health over the past decade thanks to the outstanding work of dental schools in teaching and training the next generation of dentists.
“There are many challenges ahead of us, including Brexit and the coronavirus pandemic, which present huge financial and operational threats to universities and research funders worldwide. The Dental Schools Council is well equipped to respond to such challenges by drawing on its collective expertise and experience. I look forward to approaching these areas with the collaborative spirit that has long been fundamental to DSC.”
He succeeds Professor Chris Deery, Dean of the School of Clinical Dentistry at the University of Sheffield, who said:
“I have thoroughly enjoyed my time as Chair and wish Chris all the best in his new role. Chris has made major contributions to dental education and research and his leadership will be invaluable at a time of significant change for dentistry. I look forward to continuing to work alongside my dental school colleagues and colleagues in dental healthcare to exercise positive change in dental education.”
