LASERS, MICROBIOLOGY AND DENTAL MATERIALS IN CLINICAL DENTAL PRACTICE
Professor Laurence Walsh AO
Emeritus Professor, School of Dentistry, University of Queensland &
Adjunct Professor, Griffith University, Queensland &
Chief Dental Officer, Dentroid
RESEARCHER PROFILE
Filmed in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia | December 2024
Prof Walsh is a well known senior dental academic and dental board registered specialist in special needs dentistry. He completed his basic dental training and his PhD at the University of Queensland and then his post doctoral education at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, followed by executive education at Stanford University and Harvard University. In addition to his multiple dental and educational qualifications, Prof Walsh is a member of the Australian Institute of Safety and Health, and an associate member of the Australian Institute of Physics. He has served for over 25 years as a laser safety officer. Prof Walsh was a member of the UQ Centre for Laser Science for 11 years.
Prof Walsh has one major national awards for research and teaching excellence, and has been made a life member of the ANZ Academy of special needs dentistry, and the Australian Dental Association. In 2018, he was appointed as an officer of the order of Australia (AO) in recognition of his contributions to dental education and dental research.
Prof Walsh has served on the academic staff of the University of Queensland School of Dentistry for 40 years, including for 21 years as the research group leader in advanced technologies. Since retiring from UQ in 2020 and then being appointed as an emeritus professor, Prof Walsh has continued his involvement with specialist training and clinical research at UQ, and continued applied research in advanced technologies.
Prof Walsh was Australia’s first multi-wavelength laser user in 1988, and he has published over 100 articles and 3 textbooks on the topic of laser dentistry. He has a further 300 journal publications on other topics, and his published work has attracted over 20,000 citations in the literature. Based on citation impact, in October 2023 Prof Walsh was ranked in the top 5 Australian dental scientists of all time in the Stanford University listing of the world’s top 2% of scientists.
Prof Walsh has represented the Australian Dental Association on multiple committees of Standards Australia since 1992 (including laser safety). He has taught laser safety and clinical laser procedures around the world for over 30 years. Prof Walsh has been the president of the Australian Association for laser dentistry since 2018.
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Nutraceutical and pharmacological intervention in neurological disorders
Dr Virginie Lam is a neuroscientist and cerebrovascular biologist with over 15 years of research experience, including more than seven years post-PhD. She co-leads the Neurovascular and Metabolic Diseases Laboratory at the Curtin Medical Research Institute and holds an affiliate appointment at the Perron Institute for Neurological and Translational Science. Her research focuses on the interface between neurovascular health, cognitive function, and therapeutic translation in neurodegenerative disorders.
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Life-changing donor milk for preterm babies
Dr Laura Klein is National Milk Research Leader at Australian Red Cross Lifeblood. Australian Red Cross Lifeblood is funded by Australian governments to provide life-giving blood, plasma, and transplantation and biological products.
Dr Klein works with clinicians and researchers across Australia to understand how donated breast milk can be used to improve outcomes for vulnerable babies. She’s passionate about generating evidence to improve the products and services that milk banks provide to donors and the families who receive donated breast milk.
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CASE STUDY Link between levels of extracellular vesicles in the blood and tissue damage caused by diseases
A landmark study led by WEHI and La Trobe University has found a potential new diagnostic marker that could be used to better detect the level of tissue damage in our bodies.
This study revealed, for the first time, a link between levels of EVs in the blood and tissue damage caused by diseases such as leukaemia.
Researchers hope to leverage the critical new insight to develop a blood test to monitor cancer patients with tissue damage, which could, in future, enhance treatment strategies for blood cancers and other diseases.
