INTEGRATED ORAL HEALTH CARE
Dr Ajesh George, Professor of Interprofessional Oral Health, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Western Sydney University (WSU) & Director and Co-Founder, Australian Centre for Integration of Oral Health
RESEARCHER PROFILE
Filmed in Sydney, Australia | August 2025
Dr Ajesh George is a Professor of Interprofessional Oral Health in the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Western Sydney University (WSU) and Honorary Professor in the School of Dentistry at The University of Sydney. He is a dentist with extensive experience in integrated oral health care and is a renowned expert globally in providing oral health training to non-dental professionals and translating oral health guidelines into their practice. Dr George is also the Director and Co-founder of the “Australian Centre for Integration of Oral Health” (ACIOH) which is a leading national research centre led by WSU in collaboration with various partners including universities, health services and professional organisations.
Over the last decade Dr George has been coordinating multidisciplinary teams in implementing effective and sustainable models of care across the lifespan and his work has been recognised by key bodies including the World Health Organisation. He has also been instrumental in training nurses and midwives to promote oral health by integrating oral health into undergraduate courses at Australian Universities as well as developing nationally recognised oral health professional development training programs.
Prof George has over $5.4M in funding including NHMRC grants, more than 150 publications (90% Q1/Q2 journals), 175 conference presentations (40 international), 19 research awards and a H-index of 34 with 4367 citations. He has 13 PhD and Masters completions and currently supervises 11 HDR students most of whom have received scholarships. In 2021 and 2024 Prof George was recognised as one of the top 2% scientists worldwide
Source: Supplied
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Post stroke brain recovery targeting blood flow and vessel health
Dr Daniel Beard is a Senior Lecturer and Group Leader of the Neurovascular Research Laboratory at the University of Newcastle, with a distinguished career in stroke research. Dr Beard completed his PhD in Human Physiology in 2015, uncovering the impact of intracranial pressure on collateral vessel failure. He has held prestigious research and teaching roles at the University of Oxford and Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, contributing to international collaborations on neurovascular protection. His research has been supported by competitive grants, including an NHMRC Ideas Grant, and he has received numerous awards for innovation, research excellence and teaching excellence.
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Professor Sandy Middleton
NURSING RESEARCH INSTITUTE, ST VINCENT’S HEALTH NETWORK SYDNEY, ST VINCENT’S HOSPITAL MELBOURNE AND AUSTRALIAN CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY
NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA -
Stem cells used for age-related macular degeneration
Dr. Jenna Hall is a passionate and accomplished biologist with expertise in induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) culture, disease modelling, and high-throughput automated systems. She recently earned her PhD from the University of Melbourne, where her research focused on using iPSC-derived retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells to study age-related macular degeneration. Dr Hall’s technical skillset spans manual and automated cell reprogramming and differentiation, quantitative microscopy-based phenotyping, and large scale -omics analysis.
