The Peninsula Dental School, the first new Dental School in the UK for over 40 years, has appointed Professor Elizabeth Kay as inaugural Dean. Professor Kay is Professor of Dental Health Services Research at the School of Dentistry, University of Manchester.

The Peninsula Dental School is a joint school of the Universities of Exeter and Plymouth and works in close partnership with the NHS in Devon and Cornwall. It is a new initiative formed after a successful bid to Government, designed to take a fresh approach to the teaching and development of prospective dentists. It aims to ensure its graduates are best prepared to rise to the oral health challenges of the future. Professor Kay said, “The demands on today's dental professionals are extremely broad and as Dean of the School, the post represents an opportunity to put in place a programme which will be radical, reflect modern approaches to teaching and equip practitioners with the skills and abilities to adapt to rapidly changing professional roles.”

The School will welcome its first group of students in September 2007 to the Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) degree programme. The degree is a four-year full-time programme awarded jointly through the Universities of Exeter and Plymouth.