Professor Martin C. Downer has been appointed Emeritus Professor of Dental Health at University College London. Professor Downer, now retired, became the first Professor in a dental health discipline to be appointed by the Eastman Dental Institute in 1990.

A past Chief Dental Officer at the Department of Health, he became Professor of Dental Health Policy, Head of Department and Honorary Consultant in Dental Public Health at the Institute, a post he held until retiring in 1996. Professor Downer also ran an active research programme in the epidemiology of oral cancer and dental caries, probabilistic decision modelling and health services research.

Among his other activities he has held posts, from time to time, of visiting lecturer/professor in eleven universities overseas. He was a member of the Expert Advisory Panel on Oral Health, World Health Organization (1984-99) and chairman of the UK Working Group on Screening for Oral Cancer (1991-93) and chairman of the Adult Dental Health Survey Steering Group (1987-88). He is also past editor and current member of the editorial board of Community Dental Health and has had over one hundred papers published in peer-reviewed journals.