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NEW APPOINTMENTS
All change at the top The time has come for a change of Association leadership as we head into an exciting new year. Meet some familiar new faces
National President
Associate Professor Carol Tran has been elected as the National President of our Association at a recent DHAA Board meeting on 20 November 2021. Carol has taken over from Cheryl Dey who has served her full three terms at the helm. Carol is the Head of Course for Oral Health at Central Queensland University. She is an oral health therapist with more than nine years of clinical experience that ranges from private practice, across Victoria and Queensland, to university teaching and managing a variety of research projects. She has extensive experience in teaching within the professional environment, including; lecturing in caries management, periodontology, and general dentistry. During her time as a lecturer at the University of Queensland, she was involved in the curriculum review as the chair of the year 1 committee. She also was heavily involved in project management, policy development, and strategic integration across the BDSc and BOralH programs. Her research
focus is oriented around projects with a direct clinical relevance. This research encompasses periodontology, implant dentistry, microbiology and cardiology. She submitted her PhD thesis in 2017. Carol has served on DHAA boards and committees since 2010. First as a newsletter editor for the DHAA Vic, then as a CPD member for DHAAQ and as a research reviewer, a board director and National Vice President.
National Vice President
Dr Ron Knevel has been elected Vice President at the same meeting. Ron is currently the Oral Health Discipline Lead at the La Trobe University. He worked at Academic Centre of Dentistry in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, School for Oral Health Care professionals, as lecturer and pre-clinical and clinical coordinator, international coordinator and as a curriculum coordinator. Next to his work as a lecturer and clinical demonstrator he has worked in general practice and at the department of periodontology of
ACTA. He has been an invited speaker on several national and international conferences in the US, Europe, Asia and Australia (including Europerio and the International Symposium on Dental Hygiene). Since 2009 he has worked as a Senior Lecturer at La Trobe University, and is the 3rd year coordinator of the Bachelor of Oral Health Sciences. He is the founder and chair of the Buddhi Bangara Foundation to promote and develop sustainable oral health promotion activities in Nepal, and is a co-founder of the Dental Hygienists Association Nepal. He established an Oral Health Promotion Training Centre in Dhangadi West-Nepal in October 2010.
New regional board directors Phoebe Thomas and Hellen Checker have commenced as board directors for Western Australia and Northern Territory respectively.
Phoebe Thomas is an advocate for the DHAA and a self-confessed lover of wine! She graduated from Curtin University
