Alastair J. Sloan

IADR Vice President Candidate

IADR Activities

Overview of commitment to IADR

As a professor of Tissue Engineering and Dental Biology I am committed to improving oral health of our communities and populations and to the development of novel therapies to positively impact patient care through research and advocacy. Throughout my career, from my PhD studies to my current academic position, IADR has provided support for me to develop my research and I have contributed to the organization in the past as outlined below. I would consider it a privilege to serve IADR members in supporting the future growth and development of the Association as its President.  I am a fully committed member of IADR and have been privileged to have been a member since I was a PhD student and attended my first IADR British Division meeting as a nervous research student in 1994 where I presented my first data to established and emerging researchers. From those early experiences, including my first IADR General Session in 1998 where I made new connections, through to the present day when I meet those connections who are now friends and colleagues from all over the world, I have found the roles I have undertaken as part of IADR activities fulfilling. I am an active member of the Pulp Biology and Regeneration Group, Stem cell Biology Group and Education Research Group. To this privileged role of President, I would bring significant experience of leadership, understanding of how IADR works as an organization, extensive experience of working internationally and experience of engaging with industry and healthcare partners to translate research to the patient. I would review member benefits so that their value remains high and what members want from our organization, support multidisciplinary research opportunities both within IADR and across other boarder areas of biomedicine and drive forward support for IADR regional development.   My goal is to lead IADR to driving innovation in all areas of oral, dental and craniofacial healthcare and be the key organization to connect the mouth to the body to tackle global health challenges.

Leadership roles with the Pulp Biology and Regeneration Group

I was honoured to have been elected President Elect of the Pulp Biology and Regeneration Group (PBRG) in 2009 and was Group Program Chair for the 2010 AADOCR meeting (Washington DC) and the 2010 IADR General Session (Barcelona). I became President in 2010 at the conclusion of that meeting and chaired the Group Business meeting at the General Session in 2011 in San Diego. I have reviewed abstracts and chaired oral sessions for the Pulp Biology and Regeneration Research Group on numerous occasions since 2000. Through my role with the PBRG I have also sought to innovate and collaborate in the field of pulp biology through hands on workshops such as Lunch & Learning sessions (in 2002 and 2011) and supporting the successful delivery of, and speaking at, joint symposia with other IADR scientific research groups (San Diego, Cape Town, Seoul, London, Chengdu). I have actively supported several PBRG satellite meetings and was a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for the 2010 satellite meeting in Geneva.

Other IADR and IADR Divisional Roles 

I have had the privilege of serving on numerous IADR Committees over many years. I served on the Young Investigators Award Committee from 2012-2015, the IADR Constitutional Committee between 2016-2019 and was Chair of this committee in 2018-2019. I served as a member of the William J Gies Award Committee from 2020-2023 and was a member of the IADR Nominating Committee between 2020-2023. I was honoured to serve as Chair for this committee in 2022-2023. I am currently a member of the Innovation in Oral Healthcare Awards Committee.

I am a former member of the management committee of the British Division (2008-2011) and was elected Assistant Treasurer for the British Division (2013-2019). In this role I worked closely with the Honorary Treasurer in particular with respect to the British Division Prizes and Awards and engaging with corporate sponsors

I have judged the British Division Junior Colgate Research Awards at the PER meeting in Dubrovnik and also judged the British Division Mineralized Tissue Research Group Prize and Unilever Poster Prize at several divisional meetings. I was a member of the local organizing committee for the 2004 and 2015 British Division meetings. I am a member of the Australian and New Zealand Division Executive and in 2022 was a member of the local organizing committee for the annual IADRANZ meeting and was a judge for the IADRANZ Colgate Award (senior/postdoctoral category).

I am a current member of the editorial board of the Journal of Dental Research.

Other Professional Activities

Academic Leadership

I am an applied bioscientist and researcher in bioengineering and tissue repair. I have worked in oral / dental research all my career since my PhD in oral biology and pathology which was undertaken at the School of Dentistry at the University of Birmingham in the UK. Having started my academic career at the University of Birmingham, I moved to Cardiff University in 2005.

I have held senior academic leadership roles in 2 leading Schools of Dentistry (Cardiff University, UK and University of Melbourne, Australia) including serving as Dean/Head of School of both Schools. I led the School of Dentistry at Cardiff University between 2017 and 2020, having previously held the position of Director of Research and International and Head of Theme, Oral and Biomedical Sciences. I have been the Head of Melbourne Dental School since 2020, leading the School through the challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic and supporting its continued growth.

Between 2015-2017 I was Chair/Director of the Cardiff Institute for Tissue Engineering and Repair (CITER), a cross-school University Research Centre, having been chair of the CITER research committee between 2011-2014. I have acted as a key opinion leader for several oral health companies and was a member of the Welsh Dental Committee (2017-2019). I have been a committee member of the Association of Science Educators in Dentistry (UK) and more recently have been appointed as Chief Examiner for the Primary Exams at the Royal Australasian College of Dental Surgeons. I sit on the Board of the Melbourne Teaching Health Clinics where I have encouraged creation of a clinical trials unit in the Melbourne Dental Clinic. I also sit on the Joint Venture Strategic Engagement Group of the Doherty Institute (Melbourne) bringing oral communicable diseases to fore in this medical research institute. In 2023 I was elected Chair of the Australasian Council of Dental Schools (ACODS).

I was a member of the UK Tissue and Cell Engineering Society (TCES) Executive Committee from 2010-2019.

Internationally, I have built transnational education opportunities between two institutions and in 2020 was a founding Dean of the DentAlliance, a strategic partnership between 4 Schools of Dentistry on 4 continents. This has led to research workshops, continuing professional development programmes and education exchanges.

Other roles

I have keen interest and passion in wider public engagement of our science and have supported initiatives such as the Science in Health Live event at Cardiff University, the Wellcome Trust Institutional Strategic Support Fund which focused on public engagement and Pint of Science. My interests in the 3Rs have led to my appointment in 2023 to the position of Chair of the Australian New Zealand Council for the Care of Animals in Research and Teaching (ANZCCART).

I have been a member of several UK research funding grant panels (NC3Rs, MRC) and currently sit on the EU Eureka Eurostars funding panel, the Med09 panel of the Research Foundation Flanders, Australian Dental Research Foundation, and the Australian NH&MRC Medical Research Future Fund panel.

Research, Publications and Presentations

I have been awarded ~ AUD$10M in competitive research funding from category 1 funding bodies, medical charities, and industry with over AUD$4M as principal investigator. My research interests are within the field of mineralised connective tissues, focussing on their reparative potential, specifically in the signalling processes that initiate and control the repair of these tissues. Related to this, my group focuses on the role and function of the dental pulp stem cells in mediating reparative processes and the potential therapeutic roles of these cells in regenerative medicine. Research is also focussed on understanding the bioactive and inductive properties of dentine and bone matrices to facilitate novel tissue engineering and natural regenerative processes and development of novel clinical therapies in relation to dentistry and orthopaedics. This has allowed the group to develop a research programme directly related to the development of novel clinical therapies research programmes with several commercial collaborators. In relation to this, my research is also focussed on development of novel antimicrobial carriers / bioactive materials for clinical endodontics and vital pulp therapy. Research has established nanocarriers for biomatrix and antimicrobial delivery and prototype restorative materials and model systems to better understand the nature of the bacterial / pulp environment during pulpal infection. This work has led to the development of novel therapies to control infection and support endodontic tissue repair. Supporting these areas across my research career to date has been a long-standing interest in developing in vitro / ex vivo organ culture model systems for mineralising and soft (mucosa, dermal) tissues to provide innovative models for tissue regeneration and assessment of novel therapeutic agents and advance the 3Rs. This represents a significant advance in the field and such models are now used internationally, been the subject of numerous book chapters and invitations to represent this area in UK and Australian Parliamentary committees. In 2022 I was requested to give evidence in the New South Wales Parliament regarding animal model systems in relation to regenerative biology/nanomedicine. My research is highly collaborative, and I currently have projects with colleagues at Cardiff University and the University of Manchester, Dept Bioengineering, University of Melbourne, RMIT University and industry in Australia and USA.

In addition to IADR keynote lectures I have delivered numerous invited lectures at national and international conferences, symposia and research institutions. These include the British Dental Association inaugural Christmas Lecture (2012), European Society for Endodontics (2013), Mediterranean Societies of Pediatric Dentistry (2014), Egyptian Society for Paediatric Dentistry (2015), National Institute Standards & Technology (NIST, USA, 2016), British Society for Paediatric Dentistry (2016), UK Society for Biomaterials (2018), RCSI, Faculty of Dentistry, Annual Scientific Meeting (2020), Australasian Society for Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering (2022), TERMIS-EU/Tissue and Cell Engineering Society (2023).

I have 100 peer reviewed publications in Q1 journals in dental research, tissue engineering, stem cell biology, mineralised tissues, infection/immunity and 3Rs with over 5800 citations (h index 41). I am also the author of 7 books/book chapters.

I am a committed mentor to early career researchers, and I have supervised 14 PhD students to completion as Principal Supervisor and 11 as Second Supervisor. In addition, and I have examined 34 PhD theses as external examiner in the UK, Europe, Asia and Australia.

My research has been consistently funded for over 20 years by the UK Research Councils (NC3Rs, MRC) medical charities (Dunhill Medical Research Trust, Wellcome Trust), Australian medical charities (MAWA) and industry collaborators (Philips Oral Healthcare, Colgate Palmolive, GSK and Renishaw PLC). This has led to over AUD$1.5M in research funding to translate biological knowledge to clinical endpoints and determine biological evidence for novel and current therapeutic approaches.

I was awarded the British Division Mineralised Tissue Research Group prize in 1998 and the IADR Young Investigators Award in 2011. I was honoured to be the recipient of the IADR Distinguished Scientist Award, the Isaac Schour Memorial Award in 2021.

Aligned to my research, I hold visiting honorary Professorships at China Medical University (Shenyang, China), University College Cork (Ireland) and Cardiff University (UK). PhD students and postdoctoral research assistants whom I have supervised have been the recipients of numerous research awards including the BOSDR Unilever poster prize (2012), BSODR mineralised tissue research prize (2008, 2013, 2014) and BSODR Colgate Prize (2014). In recognition of my contribution to tissue engineering / regeneration in dental research I was awarded an Ad Eundem Fellowship of the Faculty of Dentistry, Royal College of Surgeons Ireland (2021) and Honorary Fellowship of the International College of Dentists (2020).

Personal Statement

IADR serves a diverse community. Clinicians, scientists, clinician-scientists, and students at all stages of their career. However, we have one goal which is to improve oral health of the global population through innovation and research. IADR is a community that brings researchers of all stages of their career together to drive forward that innovation through dissemination of data, discussion and collaboration. The most pressing oral health challenges we face cannot be tackled alone but they can be tackled by working together. IADR provides that opportunity and my personal experiences of IADR demonstrates what it offers members along their career journey.

My first IADR experience was a British Division meeting just 6 months into my PhD in 1994. The experienced individuals listening to me and interested in my project became supportive mentors providing advice and guidance. My first General Session was in 1998 in Nice. As a young postdoctoral researcher this meeting provided me with the opportunity present my work to an international audience and meet new people who have become mentors, longstanding colleagues, and friends. My early experiences at IADR meetings provided me with the opportunities to engage in scientific discussion with researchers from a wide range of institutions and countries and to build relationships with people with common research interests and with different views and approaches to the areas that interested me. This sharing of different opinions shaped my view of scientific discussion as an early career researcher and that rigorous debate can take place in a supportive and respectful manner. These early experiences have shaped my career as a researcher, supervisor, and mentor.  IADR also provided me a platform that encouraged sharing of new ideas and to bring my wider interests in tissue engineering to our field of oral, dental and craniofacial research. It has allowed me to broaden my horizons and knowledge of fields not necessarily related to my own but important for wider understanding of oral and dental research and the range of challenges we face. As a researcher, IADR has been an invaluable organization for me.

Being active within the organization is, however, something I have found to be highly rewarding. I was supported and encouraged by established researchers and officers within the IADR when I was an early career researcher and as my career has developed, I have wanted to ‘give back’ and support emerging researchers in the way that I was supported. I also wanted provide leadership to our field and help shape and drive the important conversations around oral and dental health and research. I became President of the Pulp Biology and Regeneration Group in 2010, having been put forward by one of my mentors! It gave me an insight into IADR operations and the chance to lead the conversations in my field of regenerative endodontics and pulp biology. Following this experience and being awarded the Young Investigator Award in 2011 I was invited to sit on the Young Investigators Award Committee for a 3-year term and saw the outstanding and exciting young researchers coming through. Serving on the Constitution Committee, with one year as Chair, really gave me an insight into the workings and history of our organization and I have had the opportunity of serving on the William J Gies Award Committee and IADR Nominating Committee (one year as Chair).

It would be an honour and privilege use those past experiences and knowledge to serve IADR members and support the Board in the future growth and development of the Association as its President.  Having been a member of IADR for nearly 30 years, I am committed to our mission and also see the current challenges in front of us in terms of the burden of oral disease, inequity of access to oral healthcare and continued need for innovative and novel approaches to treatment and therapies.  

To this role I would also bring:

• My extensive experience in leadership - through roles in leading 2 large dental schools in 2 different countries, within other external organizations and within IADR. I would bring the leadership skills developed in those roles to that of IADR President.
• Understanding of how IADR as an organization works – from experience both at a divisional (British and Australian/New Zealand Division) and global level through past experiences and roles. 
• Experience of working nationally and internationally- through collaborative research projects to development of transnational partnerships (DentAlliance), to engagement with policy makers and governments.

Finally, I would bring a strong multidisciplinary view to the role through my experience of research which reaches across oral/dental health to broader general health and biomedicine (as seen through my roles in TCES, TERMIS for example). There is a significant opportunity for IADR to strengthen relationships with other relevant academic and professional organizations serving other disciplines for the benefit of overall health. With our 35 scientific research groups, we have breadth of knowledge needed to facilitate multidisciplinary / transdisciplinary research necessary for research translation. The growth of joint symposia and workshops at General Sessions demonstrates we are doing this.  We can build on this so our expertise can and should inform the wider health agenda for example in terms of global inequalities to healthcare, antimicrobial resistance, nanomedicine and AI. We can be leading the conversations to realize the full potential impact of oral health research beyond our immediate boundaries.

As President I will: 

• Address the challenges we face in terms of falling / stagnant membership. I will review membership benefits to ensure their value for current and future members/student members remains high and is what you want from IADR.
• Ensure IADR is attractive to all dental, oral and craniofacial researchers, including mainstream scientists not in dental schools. This will strengthen our multidisciplinary focus and bring expertise and knowledge into our area.
• Support IADR regional development and growth of research programmes in those regions.

My vision is for IADR to be the key player and voice in the rapidly arising challenges in healthcare where advances in oral health impact general health. You need oral health for overall health! I feel that by building on my past experiences in leadership and research I have the skills you require from me to lead your organization.