The Global Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. Zoe's work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
About Zoe
Associate Head of School - Teaching and Learning Associate Professor in Dental Education and Research Clinical Lead of Oral Microbiome Research GroupZoe is currently employed at the University of Plymouth as the Associate Head of School for Teaching and Learning, and as an Associate Professor in Dental Education and Research. This involves undertaking a variety of educational roles, including overseeing Years 1-5 of the BDS Programme curriculum (Bachelor of Dental Surgery) and Years 1-3 of the DTH curriculum (Dental Hygiene and Therapy), Applied Dental Knowledge assessment lead, Enquiry Based Learning lead and Intercalating MSc Dental lead. These roles fulfil an interest in integrated healthcare models, applied and experiential learning, and Zoe helps to support early career researchers nationally through her role as Treasurer for the British Society of Oral and Dental Research. Zoe takes pride in leading the Peninsula Dental School 2023 curriculum that was ranked first place in the Guardian League table for teaching quality, third in the National Student Survey for student satisfaction, winner of the Times Higher Education Award for Community Dentistry. The University of Plymouth was also recently awarded a TEF Gold and the Faculty a Athena Swan Silver Award. In 2018 Zoe first established and led the this Plymouth Oral Microbiome Research Group alongside Dr Raul Bescos. Zoe’s current research interests involve undertaking clinical research in a primary care dental setting, that directly benefit the oral and general health of patients, having developed industrial partnerships with Oralieve and Haleon to support these studies. The team undertake studies specifically investigating the mechanisms linking oral health and systemic disease, with a focus on cardiovascular disease and mouthwash use. Zoe also leads blood pressure case finding clinics with Peninsula Dental Social Enterprise, which include investigating links between the oral microbiome and hypertension, pre-eclampsia and menopause, as well as the effects of antimicrobial mouthwashes on the oral microbiome. Publications in this field have led to leadership of the FDI task team on global recommendations for mouthwash use, and coining the term ‘balancing the oral microbiome’ for best practice. Before graduating to be Dentist from Peninsula Dental School (as one of the first cohorts in this pioneering new school), Zoe originally graduated with a BSc in Physiology and Pharmacology. This was followed by a PhD from the University of Sheffield, completed in 2000, which investigated the effects of anaesthetics on the microcirculation. In 2000-2002, Zoe then worked at the University of Alberta, Canada, Department of Physiology, as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow, being grant funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research, but returned to Sheffield as a Non-Clinical Lecturer and Principal Investigator between 2002-2010. Here, Zoe published in the field of sepsis, was Assistant Editor of the British Journal of Anaesthesia, and pioneered the early use of statins, with research identifying new drugs that improved blood flow and reduced inflammation during sepsis. Since graduating in dentistry from Plymouth University in 2014, Zoe has practised for 10 years as a general dentist for the NHS in Plymouth, with an interest in anxious patients and periodontal disease. This has now led to work in a community health care setting as a PDSE dentist, fulfilling ambitions to work as a health care provider serving those most at need of urgent restorative, surgical and periodontal treatment.
Teaching
Undergraduate small and large group teaching, plenaries and curriculum design for BDS and BSc DTH coursesPostgraduate teaching and supervision, including PhD students, in areas of research interest and expertise
Interested in research relating to inter-professional education and enquiry based learning (EBL)
Areas of interest for teaching: cardiovascular physiology and pharmacology, systemic inflammatory diseases, oral microbiology and immunology
Contact Zoe
+44 1752 586828
zoe.brookes@plymouth.ac.uk
