Association for Dental Education in Europe

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Award Winners

ADEE Excellence in Dental Education Award

This page lists the ADEE Award Recipients, we've asked them to write a short piece on what the award means to them and links on this page will take you to those articles.

Early Career Educators

2015

Ziad Al-Ani

University Teacher

Glasgow Dental Hospital and School

"I am pleased, honoured and humbled to accept this Educator Award as part of the Excellence in Dental Education Awards Programme administered by the Association for Dental Education in Europe. It is a great feeling to know that this prestigious award by the ADEE has recognized my teaching achievements and has rewarded me for high standards of learning and teaching in dentistry.

A heartfelt thank you to the ADEE for giving me this honour and I certainly owe Glasgow Dental School a big thank you for all the support given to me in making such a remarkable achievement. It has been impossible for me not to be enthusiastic and inspired in my teaching while being in such a great teaching environment. 

I found a wonderful place in my office to keep this beautiful award, and each time I look at it, I’ll be reminded of the responsibility and dedication to work hard and to further develop my skills to keep the high standards in dental education."

Ingrid Tonni

University of Brescia, Italy

I am extremely pleased and honoured to have received the Early Career Educator Excellence in Dental Education Award from the Association of Dental Education in Europe. I am earnestly grateful for the recognition I have received at an international level for my work in the dental education field. To be honest my involvement in Dental Education was not spontaneous at the beginning. My real interest in Dental Education grew up during my PhD experience in Cardiff and during the participation to the ADEE annual meetings where I met very enthusiastic people that provide me with motivation and confidence in my teaching skills. I have faced several challenges on my way, but each one of them has only strengthened me to make me the teacher I am today.

Winning this award would not have been possible without the inspiration I have received from my supervisor at Cardiff Dental School, for whom I have the deepest respect, and from whom I have derived the strength to challenge myself and perform better at each stage. I sincerely thank my seniors and my colleagues in the Dental Clinic of Brescia for all the support given to me in making such a remarkable achievement.

I am grateful to be a teacher and to receive this award that give me confidence to carry on the way to further develop my skills and to take new challenges in order to maintain high standards in dental education. I also hope that this recognition could help me in the future to fulfil organizational roles in the teaching field within my own academic institution.

2014

Upen Patel

Clinical Lecturer in Restorative Dentistry

School of Dentistry, University of Birmingham, UK

"I am delighted and honoured to receive the Early Career Educator Excellence in Dental Education Award from the Association of Dental Education in Europe. This achievement is a big milestone in my career as a dental educator as it demonstrates recognition of teaching excellence by my peers at an international level.

My interest in dental education has made me attend and present at ADEE meetings all over Europe since 2009, and over the years, I have been encouraged to get involved with special interest groups. The networking opportunities together with presenting my work in dental education have been excellent preparation for this award.

This recognition has opened many doors for me and allowed me to meet new people in dental education further afield. I now have the confidence to take on larger challenges and help other dental educators, both internationally and within my own academic institution to strive for excellence. I would like to thank ADEE for this award and to congratulate it for providing this forum for dental education."

2013

James Field

Degree Programme Director, MClinDent in Restorative Dentistry

School of Dental Sciences, Newcastle University

"It was an honour to be awarded the ADEE Early Career Educator Award in 2013. It had been a busy year for me in terms of dental education; the same year the Vice Chancellor of Newcastle University presented me with the Distinguished Teacher Award, in recognition of exceptional contribution to teaching excellence.

Whilst I was incredibly proud of being recognised within my University, the ADEE award provided me with renewed energy, motivation and confidence to develop my teaching further within the national and international community.

Since receiving the award, I have been fortunate enough to take up a number of external roles affiliated to both the Higher Education Academy and the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh. My teaching has also been further recognised by the Academy of Medical Educators. I am thoroughly enjoying this incredible journey, and most recently I finished writing a text book for pre-clinical skills which is available from Wiley. I always considered this to be a big gap in terms of accessible, relevant texts – so hopefully this will be a useful adjunct to students studying dentistry, nursing and hygiene and therapy. It was a labour of love, taking two years to put together! It’s available as an e-book which will be great whilst inside a skills lab.

There is no doubt that the educator award gave me confidence and recognition both within my peer group and beyond. At Newcastle University, I have now become the Degree Programme Director for our postgraduate Master’s degree in Clinical Dentistry, and I am reassured that the award will undoubtedly help to stand me in good stead when I collate evidence for promotion in the near future."

2012

Sebastiaan Koole

Department of Periodontology and Oral Implantology

Ghent University

2011

Kamran Ali

Clinical Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor)

Plymouth University Peninsula Schools of Medicine & Dentistry

"I have been a fortunate recipient of “Excellence in Dental Education – Early Career Educator Award” through a unanimous vote by the Association of Dental Education in Europe (ADEE), on 09 September 2011. This is a unique aspect of the pivotal role ADEE is playing in promoting dental education in Europe and beyond. The excellence in dental education award provides an international recognition of the contributions of dental educators in both the early as well as mature stages of their careers from the highly prestigious platform of ADEE.

On a personal level, the award is a landmark achievement in my career and has been a source of immense motivation and encouragement for me. I feel the award has significantly strengthened my professional credentials and will continue to be an important highlight in my future career. Apart from being a prestigious personal accolade, this is also a momentous recognition for my Employer University. It is an international acknowledgement that the Plymouth University staff are providing an excellent teaching and learning experience for the dental students.

In the end, I would like to thank ADEE for providing a platform for professional recognition of dental educators in addition to the tremendous initiatives and work done by the organisation in promoting the cause of dental education."

Mature Educators

2017

Albert Leung

Professor of Dental Education

University College London Eastman Dental Institute

"I am deeply honoured to have been given the Association of Dental Education Europe (ADEE) Excellence in Dental Education Mature Career Educator Award in 2017. I am very grateful for this prestigious recognition of my contributions to dental education for the last 20 years in my former role at King’s College London, and in my current roles with the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and at University College London Eastman Dental Institute.

To have the opportunities to collaborate in many arenas of international dental education with colleagues in the UK, Ireland, Jordan, Sudan, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates has been a real privilege and pleasure of mine, but to see that my role as an international dental educator being recognised by ADEE is an unbelievable acknowledgement of my work and effort.

I can also attest first-hand the ADEE award has had on my academic career.

I had applied for one of the major dental education post in the UK, and had been shortlisted for an interview when I received notification from ADEE informing me of my Excellence in Dental Education Mature Career Award. I forwarded this information to the selection panel, and as it turned out that the award had a really positive impact on their consideration. When I arrived at the interview, the Chair of the panel congratulated me on the ADEE award and said this was a highly significant international achievement in dental education.

This worked magic for me as I was offered the post of Professor of Dental Education at University College London Eastman Dental Institute which I was delighted to accept.

Thank you ADEE for this humbling recognition and experience."

2015

Ingrid Peroz

Charite Universitats Medizin Berlin

"I was deeply honoured to be awarded by the Excellence in Dental Education Award in the category of Mature Educators by the ADEE. To work with young students, to engage yourself to improve their study and their outcomes is important and satisfactory. But to see that these teaching achievements are recognized and appreciated by such an important association as the ADEE, makes me proud and inspires me not only to go on but to continuously improve the learning and teaching standards to the best.

It was an unbelievable feeling to stand on the stage in Szeged and to hold the splendid ADEE Award in my hands. It found a wonderful place in my office. It was well recognized by my faculty that I got this award, which was an additional acknowledgment for me.  

I warmly thank the ADEE committee for this award, which is a very important signal for the significance of education."

2014

Christoph Ramseier

Senior Lecturer

School of Dental Medicine of the University of Bern, Switzerland

"Dear colleagues, dental educators and administrators. My name is Dr. Christoph Ramseier. I am working as a periodontist and a senior lecturer at the School of Dental Medicine of the University of Bern, Switzerland.

In 2014, I received the Excellence in Dental Education Award as a Mature Educator from the Association for Dental Education in Europe ADEE. I am most honoured and privileged to have received this award. With the following lines I would like to take the opportunity to thank the ADEE for giving me this great honour.

Receiving this award from the ADEE means so much to me. My position includes teaching and mentoring undergraduate dental students, treating patients with periodontal diseases, and conducting both educational and clinical research studies. I also work in a number of bodies and faculty committees at the University of Bern."

E-Learning

"The ADEE Excellence in Dental Education Award as a Mature Educator is acknowledging my work as a dental educator. I have always been passionate about teaching and in particular about e-learning.

In the early 1990’s I was developing a method of computer-based learning. I called it Hypercorridor-based education (HCBE, www.hypercorridor.ch). It was the first online learning module written for dentists and dental hygienists on “Toothpastes” using the Hypercorridor principle was published in 1998.

In 2000 I graduated as a Dr. med. dent. (Switzerland) at the University of Bern with the production of an e-learning module on the quality control in Periodontology using the Hypercorridor principle. In 2001, I was privileged with the opportunity to give a presentation on Hypercorridor-based education at the ADEE annual meeting in Bern.

In the beginning of 2003 I conducted a randomized controlled educational trial evaluating e-learning using an online learning module in comparison with conventional learning using a paper manuscript. Applying a pre-and post-test study design we compared both the dental students’ scores from all the tests with the time spent for learning in both groups. This study was later published in 2012 in the ADEE’s European Journal of Dental Education. What we found was that online learning in dentistry may save time and that this information may be valuable when developing new dental curricula."

Ongoing development of new dental curricula

"I was appointed as an senior lecturer at the Department of Periodontology of the University of Bern in 2001 where I became responsible for the undergraduate curriculum in Fixed Prosthodontics of the 4th year dental students at the School of Dental Medicine of the University of Bern.

After my graduation as a periodontist in 2004, I took a position as a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Michigan in the United States. Following my return from the U.S. in 2008, I became responsible for the undergraduate curriculum in Periodontology at the School of Dental Medicine of the University of Bern. My main focus has been to improve and maintain the alignment of theoretical contents in Periodontology educated conventionally in classrooms with both the comprehensive care student course and the assessment of the dental students following the treatment of patients in the undergraduate student clinic."

Ongoing changes in dental care

"Over the past ten years, oral health care has changed in a number of ways. One aspect of these changes includes the implementation of patient counselling and methods of communication, such as Motivational interviewing, for the support of behaviour change and health promotion with the dental patient.

I became involved in tobacco dependence treatment in 2002. I noticed that the dental profession needed to expand in the areas of both patient counselling and in particular in tobacco use prevention and cessation. Consequently, I initiated and chaired two European workshops on tobacco use prevention and cessation for oral health professionals in 2005 and 2008. The position papers of these workshops were published and they concluded that oral health professionals have to be engaged in the treatment of tobacco dependence. Consequently, concepts for tobacco use prevention and cessation have to be implemented into both undergraduate and continuing dental education.

Furthermore, according the current evidence available today, the communication with the dental patient related with behaviour change will need to be encouraged further in particular with patients suffering from chronic oral diseases such as periodontal disease or dental decay.

Therefore, my plans for the future include conducting further studies in dental education at the School of Dental Medicine, initiating a next European Workshop on the implementation of health behaviour change counselling, and, while always being in alignment with the current evidence, the implementation of new concepts into dental curricula.

I am very much looking forward to attend the 2015 ADEE annual meeting in Szeged, Hungary. By accepting the proposal from the Faculty of Dentistry of the University of Szeged to hold an annual meeting on “Communication and Interaction in Dentistry” the ADEE clearly demonstrated their willingness to address the importance of this topic.

I am privileged to be invited as the main speaker of the pre meeting workshop on Motivational Interviewing. I am very excited and enthusiastic for future collaborations with the ADEE to further implement communication and health behaviour change counselling into dental education.

The 2014 Excellence in Dental Education Award from the ADEE was acknowledging my work as a clinician, an oral health researcher and a dental educator. This award gives me much higher confidence to continue my work and carry on the efforts to improve oral health and quality of life."

2013

Barry Quinn

Lead for Integrated Clinical Care Palace Team/Senior Specialist Clinical Teacher/Hon Consultant in Restorative Dentistry

King's College London Dental Institute

"It is always an honour to be recognised by your peers and members of such a prestigious organisation such as the Association of Dental Education of Europe. Our careers are a journey and the path frequently changes as the years go by. My career has focused on aiding our students and alumni progress and flourish in their chosen career path. The ADEE mature educators award recognises individual’s commitment to improve the student experience and building on the educational research foundations which all our teaching colleagues rely on.

My research and scholarship in education has focused mainly on simulation technologies for clinical skills acquisition, peer group teaching and inter-professional shared education and care of the patient.

To be a teacher requires commitment, to be an excellent teacher requires passion for continuing improvement. My inspiration comes from my students when students nominate you for teaching awards or even when they just say thanks at the end of the day.

The ADEE awards are aspirational and help focus career development and aid promotion within our educational establishments. It is imperative that we reflect on our practice and disseminate good practice, I would recommend all my colleagues both locally and internationally to aim to get ADEE recognition and get involved in developing Dental Education for our future Dental Professionals."

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