Dental Institute Alumnus of the Year - Nominations for 2016

Congratulations to the three King's College London Dental Institute alumni, nominated for Alumnus of the Year 2016.  The winner of the prestigious award will be announced at the Dental Alumni Weekend at the Henry Schein Dental Dinner, on Friday 4 March. 

The three nominees are:

Professor Stanley Gelbier

Professor Stanley Gelbier qualified from The Royal Dental Hospital in 1961. He has both made and documented history. Stanley was a founding member of the British Association for the Study of Community Dentistry and one of the first professors and consultants in the specialty of Dental Public Health. He played major role in dental education and training at King’s College London over three decades, most notably in the field of distance learning through the University of London. As an Emeritus Professor at KCL, he has continued to work on the history of dentistry. Professor Gelbier has held many notable positions within the profession including that of Curator of the BDA Museum, a role which he relinquished in November 2015 after 27 years. He has written extensively on the history of dentistry, recently publishing a series of BDA witness seminars as part of the John McLean Archive (along with Nairn Wilson). He has co-authored the history of the establishment of our current Dental Institute Merger to Global Leader: King’s College London Dental Institute 1998-2011 which charts the amalgamation of our dental hospitals and schools into the King's College London Dental Institute.

Miss Kathryn Harley

Miss Kathryn Harley, Consultant in Paediatric Dentistry, served for three years in her post as Dean of the Faculty of Dental Surgery (FDS) of the Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCS). Miss Harley is the first woman Dean of the faculty.

She has been a FDS board member since 2002, and most recently chaired its Postgraduate Education Committee. She also continued to support the work of the Odontological Collection, and represent the Faculty on the Royal College of Surgeons Council.

Miss Harley graduated from Guy’s Hospital Dental School in 1981 and completed a Masters degree in Conservative Dentistry at the Eastman Dental Institute in 1986, where she was appointed Consultant and Honorary Senior Lecturer in Paediatric Dentistry in 1991. In 1999, she was appointed Consultant in Paediatric Dentistry at the Edinburgh Dental Institute where she is currently Head of Department.
She has completed ten years as a member of the Board of Dental Protection Limited (DPL), having been Chairman from 2006. Her main area of clinical interest is in the restorative treatment of dental anomalies. She spearheaded the BSPD's campaign for a change in the rules on bleaching at a time when it was illegal for a dentist to bleach the teeth of Under 18s, and led the campaign to bring to public attention the enormous number of general anaesthetics given to children for the removal of carious teeth secondary to soft drinks.

Professor Tim Watson

Professor Tim Watson started at the precursor to King’s College London Dental Institute (UMDS) in 1989. He currently holds the title as Professor of Biomaterials and Restorative Dentistry and has maintained a significant interest in confocal microscopy which he developed from his days with Professor Alan Boyd. Tim is European Board Member for the International Association for Dental Research (IADR), immediate past President of the British Society for Oral and Dental Research, past President of the Dental Materials Group of the IADR and is a Council member of the Royal Microscopical Society and Editor, for ‘In Focus’ the members’ publication of the RMS.
Tim is the main lead for innovation and translation within King’s College London Dental Institute, developing strategies to ensure that basic research ideas can be nurtured and carried through to deliver clinical impact for patient benefit.

He is known to many for his expert teaching in operative dentistry as well as his very affable manner. He currently leads the teaching for the DPMG students for which there can be no doubt he has significant talents.

Find out more about the Dental Alumni Weekend here.