Award-winning south London Research Specialty Lead wants to transform oral and dental health
An award-winning CRN South London Research Specialty Lead is on a mission to drive forward advances in oral and dental health after his recent success.
Professor Avijit Banerjee was announced as the recipient of the 2022 William H. Bowen Research in Dental Caries Award. Professor Banerjee received the award from the International Association for Dental Research (IADR) during the opening ceremonies of the virtual 100th General Session and Exhibition of the IADR last month.
Known for his pioneering development of innovative minimally invasive caries-management systems and his work on caries prevention, Banerjee is a Professor of Cariology and Operative Dentistry in the Faculty of Dentistry, Oral and Craniofacial Sciences at King’s College London. He also works as Honorary Consultant and Clinical Lead, Restorative Dentistry in Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust. He is also CRN South London's Research Specialty Lead for Oral and Dental Health. The professor said:
"It is an incredible honour and privilege to receive such a prestigious international research award from the IADR, acknowledging and rewarding my research endeavours over the past 25 years in Cardiology, Minimum Intervention Oral Care and Minimally Invasive Operative Dentistry. I am truly humbled at the thought of being of the same calibre in dental caries research as many of the great clinical academics and scientists who have won this IADR distinguished scientist award.
"As is always the case, standing on the shoulders of giants in one's discipline enables one to push further the boundaries of scientific and clinical knowledge. These fundamental scientific advances must be duly translated into clinical practice to improve the oral and dental care, health and wellbeing of our patients and populations worldwide.
"I am truly indebted to all my wonderful students, clinical colleagues and the many expert principal research collaborators and fellows across the different dental and medical disciplines. I have worked tirelessly with these people within the Faculty of Dentistry, Oral and Craniofacial Sciences at King's College London, nationally across the UK and internationally, to enable my research to come to fruition. I duly share this award with all of them."
The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) supports patients and the public to participate in high-quality research in health and care settings across England, including in oral and dental health.
Joanna O'Reilly, who is a Research Delivery Manager for the NIHR CRN South London, an organisation which helps to increase the opportunities for people to take part in health and care research, said:
"I'd like to congratulate Professor Banerjee on his IADR award. This Network will always support our partners and the wider scientific community in delivering high-quality health and care research, including drug trials that people can access in south London."
You can find out more about Professor Banerjee's award on King's College London's website.
