Plymouth University Peninsula Schools of Medicine and Dentistry has announced the promotion of associate professor/senior lecturer Ewen McColl to the position of director of clinical dentistry at Plymouth University Peninsula School of Dentistry.
Ewen takes up his appointment at a very exciting time for the School, with the setting up of Peninsula Dental Social Enterprise, a new dental therapy course and the new masters in restorative dentistry (which commenced in January 2014).
His main role will be ensuring clinical quality and standards at the four state-of-the-art undergraduate dental education facilities (DEFs) at Exeter, Truro, Derriford and Devonport.
The DEF programme is a Peninsula initiative, where dental students treat NHS patients under supervision of qualified dental health professionals. Since the first DEF opened in 2008 around 14,000 people in Devon and Cornwall have received NHS dental treatment where they may not have been able to before. The focus is on not only ensuring outstanding clinical outcomes for patients, but producing the highest calibre of clinicians at undergraduate and post graduate level.
Ewen qualified from Edinburgh University in 1993 and carried out his post graduate training in restorative dentistry at The Eastman Dental Institute, Guys Dental Hospital, and an externship at Loma Linda University in California. After a successful career in the military, where he was employed as a restorative consultant, he joined Peninsula as Clinical Lead at the Devonport Dental Education Facility.
His outstanding clinical leadership has led to his promotion to director of clinical dentistry.
Ewen commented: ‘It is a great honour to take up this post at such an exciting time for Plymouth University Peninsula School of Dentistry. I have really noticed at Peninsula what a fantastic team ethos there is and that ethos of teamwork and clinical excellence is one I am looking forward to further developing throughout the School of Dentistry, at both undergraduate and postgraduate level.’
Professor Chris Tredwin, head of school added: ‘Placing the student experience in a primary care setting is our initiative and one which has set up apart from other dental schools across the country. It is an initiative which is being held up by the profession as the way forward for future dental training. Not only does this result in clinically excellent dental health professionals with superb people skills, but it also contributes greatly to addressing oral health inequalities in communities that need support the most. My congratulations go to Ewen on his promotion – he and his colleagues are in a strong position to build on our success to date.’
