St David's Student of the Year

Craig Lewis, who has just qualified from Cardiff Dental School, is the third winner of the St David's Student of the Year award. The award is for the best all round student who has displayed the best professionalism, clinical competence and team work and is voted on by all staff members at St David's Primary Dental Care Unit (PDCU). The PDCU is where Cardiff's final year dental students get a large proportion of their outreach clinical experience.

Research Training Fellowship

The National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) has awarded a Research Training Fellowship and funding of £281,000 to Holly Cole-Hawkins, an Academic Clinical Fellow in the University of Bristol School of Oral and Dental Sciences.

Holly's PhD project will look at what it means to be a survivor of oral cancer, assessing their support needs, the impact of appearance changes and the effect on relationship dynamics. Her research, to be conducted over three years, will be closely aligned with Head and Neck 5000, a national study of people with head and neck cancer being led by the University of Bristol.

Prestigious orthodontic grants

UCL Eastman PhD students Shari Daniels and Fiona Ryan have both been awarded prestigious research grants by the European Orthodontic Society (EOS).

Fiona and her supervisor have been awarded £16,320 to fund a national research project to investigate certain psychological characteristics in the general UK population. Fiona has also received a £10,000 research grant from the Royal College of Surgeons of England for her work on patient involvement in orthognathic treatment.

Shari Daniels and her supervisors have been awarded £20,000 to support her research into the relationship between the muscles of mastication, mandibular growth and orthodontic therapies.

Chairman of the BDA Benevolent Fund

Ann Rockey has assumed the role of Chairman of the BDA Benevolent Fund, taking over from Mavis Phipps. Ann has been an active member of the South Wales Branch of the BDA for 30 years, is a member of the BDA Representative Body and has been a Trustee of the Benevolent Fund for over 20 years.