Oral health and systemic disease: Part two

Mike started his interest in dental genetics with studies into the molecular basis of hypodontia at the Institute of Child Health. He now runs a dental genetics clinic at St Thomas’ Hospital, attracting referrals from the South East region, and attends clinics in the Rare Diseases Centre for the national service for nucleotide excision repair disorders. Mike lectures internationally on dental care for children with genetic disorders.

He is on the medical advisory board for the UK Ectodermal Dysplasia Society and advises family support forums for a number of other syndromes affecting dentition. The growing skeletal dysplasia network in the London region is providing increasing opportunities for collaborative working across specialties and between institutions.

Professor Ahmed has been a Consultant in Medical Oncology since 2006 and qualified in 1994 at the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, London. She has a research degree (MD) through Nottingham University and undertook oncology training in Weston Park Hospital (Sheffield), Nottingham City Hospital and the Leicester Royal Infirmary. She is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians. Appointed Honorary Chair of Medical Oncology by University of Leicester in 2016.

Professor Ahmed is the Training Programme Director for Medical Oncology. She is Chief Investigator and local Principal Investigator for a number of clinical trials in breast and lung cancer.

Professor Julian Naglik graduated with a BSc from the University of East London in 1992 and obtained his Ph.D. from King’s College London in 2001, studying the expression of the secreted aspartyl proteinases in the human fungal pathogen Candida albicans. He was appointed Lecturer in 2006, Reader in 2013, and Professor in 2016. Previously, he also undertook roles as a visiting research scientist at the Robert Koch Institute (Berlin, Germany) as well as the University of California San Francisco. His current research projects relate to the molecular analysis of host-pathogen interactions at mucosal surfaces, with specific focus on epithelial mechanisms activated by C. Albicans. His laboratory described the danger response signalling pathways activated by the invasive hyphal form of C. albicans, which recently was found to be due to the secretion of candidalysin. Candidalysin is the first cytolytic peptide toxin identified in any human fungal pathogen and has been recognised as a seminal advance in the microbiology field.

His research has been supported by grants from the Medical Research Council (MRC), Biotechnology & Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Wellcome Trust. As well as being a patent holder, Professor Naglik is an academic editor for numerous journals and has received awards from King's College London, the German Mycological Society, and the German Society for Hygiene and Microbiology. He is also an Honorary Member of the British Society of Medical Mycology.

Iain Chapple is Professor of Periodontology, Director of Research for the Institute of Clinical Sciences, and former Head of the School of Dentistry (2016-2020) at The University of Birmingham UK. Iain is former Scientific Editor of: the British Dental Journal; Journal of Periodontal Research and current Associate Editor of the Journal Clinical Periodontology and Periodontology 2000. He has written 13 textbooks and 33 book chapters. Iain served the IADR Periodontal Research Group (PRG) as President (2006-7), Group Chair (2008-1015), and Counsellor (2016). He served the European Federation of Periodontology (EFP) as Treasurer (2007-2013); EFP Workshop co-chair (2008-current); Foundation Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Committee; Editor of JCP Digest (2014-2016); EFP Secretary-General (2016-2019).

He was British Society of Periodontology President 2014- 2015 and awarded the Charles Tomes medal of the Royal College of Surgeons (2011), the IADR PRG Rizzo Research Award (2001), and IADR Distinguished Scientist in Periodontal Research 2018. He was awarded the special citation award of the American Academy of Periodontology 2018. Iain leads Birmingham’s Periodontal Research Group, has published over 200 peer-reviewed manuscripts in the international scientific literature. He leads a regional periodontal service for a population base of 6 million and a national service for adults with Epidermolysis Bullosa. His clinical interests lie in periodontal medicine and surgery.