Professor Nicola Innes

Nicola Innes is a Professor of Paediatric Dentistry, Honorary Consultant and Head of Cardiff Dental School. She initially qualified as a Registered General Nurse, then gained a BSc in Life Sciences (1991) from Napier University, Edinburgh followed by an intercalated BMSc in Cellular/Molecular Pathology (1995) and BDS(hons) in 1998 from the University of Dundee. She has passed membership exams with the Royal College of Surgeons of England for the Faculty of General Dental Practitioners (2004) and the Faculty of Dental Surgery (2005) and was admitted to the General Dental Council Specialist List for Paediatric Dentistry in 2011,

Professor Innes spent seven years as a General Dentist in Scotland and was awarded a PhD based on a randomised control trial investigating the Hall Technique whilst part-time in practice and part-time at the University of Dundee (2011). She began her academic career as a Clinical Lecturer at the University of Dundee in 2005 and took up the position of Head of Cardiff Dental School in August. 2020.

With research interests driven by a desire to improve patient care and make the most efficient and ethical use of resources, Professor Innes has mainly focussed on national and international collaborations in clinical trials and offshoots of these. She has led two UK-wide NIHR-funded child dental research projects, participated in Germany, Lithuania, Australia, Brazil, US and New Zealand based trials, co-authored Cochrane reviews related to cariology and she sits on several guidance development groups. 

The specific areas she focusses on are:

• clinical trials in cariology, restorative, preventive and paediatric dentistry (development of a modern scientific evidence base for prevention and management of dental caries)
• patient (especially children’s) perceptions of dental care (making dentistry more patient/child friendly)
• translational research and related educational research  (practitioner implementation of evidence-based practice and moving research into practice for public benefit)

In the news: 

Health and Care Research Wales invests in leaders across Wales to shape the research of the future (April 2022)