I am a dentist clinician scientist with a PhD in epidemiology and population health. In July 2016 I received a four-year CIHR Embedded Clinician Researcher salary award in “improving access to oral health care and oral health care delivery for at-risk young children in Manitoba”. My research program is devoted to early childhood caries (ECC) and I am a leading expert on this subject. I am the Nominated Principal Applicant on a CIHR Population Health Intervention Research funded mixed-methods investigation of Health Canada’s Children’s Oral Health Initiative (COHI) program. My team that I lead as principal investigator also just received funding from CIHR for a Component 2 Pathways Implementation Research Team grant “scaling up the Healthy Smile Happy Child initiative: tailoring and enhancing a community development approach to improve early childhood oral health for First Nations and Metis children”.
I have an established research program on ECC, oral health promotion and program evaluation, and health services research relating to pediatric dental surgery to treat severe ECC. I am recognized as a leading national expert on the subject of ECC. In 2009-2010 I was appointed to the Canadian Dental Association’s (CDA’s) Working Group and Task Force on ECC and co-authored the CDA’s new position statement on ECC. More recently, I was appointed to the Canadian Institute for Health Information Expert Panel for the analysis on day surgery for ECC and co-authored their report and led a journal publication on this work.8,25 I also co-authored the joint Canadian Paediatric Society/American Academy of Pediatrics Policy Statement on ECC in Indigenous communities.
My clinician-scientist training and mentorship began during my graduate studies when I was a CIHR Strategic Training Fellow in the Canadian Child Health Clinician Scientist Program (2003-2007). Following the completion of my PhD in Community Health Sciences I completed a three year Clinical Research Professorship in Population Medicine funded by the Manitoba Medical Service Foundation and the Manitoba Health Research Council (2010-2013).
In 2011, I was appointed to the CDA’s National Coordinating Working Group on Access to Care for Children and Seniors. The CDA identified two access-to-care priorities, namely, improving access to oral health care for infants and toddlers (by promoting the first dental visit) and residents in long-term care facilities. Our role as a national working group is to ensure that inroads are made in promoting improved access to oral health care for these two groups.
Good oral health during early childhood sets the foundation for a lifetime of optimal dental health. Unfortunately, many young Canadian children develop ECC. It is common among children from low-income households, newcomer and refugee families, rural and remote regions of Canada, and First Nations, Metis and Inuit populations. ECC is a significant concern as not only can it increase the risk for caries throughout childhood and adolescence, but severe forms can impact health, nutrition, and well-being. Many children with ECC suffer from an aggressive sub-type, called severe ECC, which frequently requires children to undergo rehabilitative dental surgery under general anesthesia because of the extent of dental treatment needed and their young ages.
On July 1, 2016 I was appointed as the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority’s Section Head for Pediatric Dentistry.
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