Head and neck cancer – prevention and detection

Zoe joined the University of Sheffield in 2002 and now works as a professor of dental public health and as an honorary consultant for Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the Office for Health Improvements and Disparities. Her main interest is person-centred dental research to improve oral health and treatment experiences. Zoe has experience of leading large multi-centred randomised controlled trials, intervention development and conducting population surveys. She has worked on national government reports, clinical guidelines and published widely on topics including inequalities in oral health, oral health promotion and dental anxiety. Zoe is the co-lead for the NIHR-supported oral health research incubator and an NIHR senior investigator. Zoe co-led the development of the first Atlas of health variation in head and neck cancer in England.

Agi grew up in South London and trained in Cardiff. Following adventures down under Agi returned to the South of England and has been working in the region since. She is unashamedly a patient focused practitioner and an advocate for the generalist dentist. Agi works in mixed general dental practice and the CDS. Non-clinically she is Chair of the West Sussex LDC, a former Chair of the Annual Conference of Local Dental Committees, Chair of the Kent Surrey and Sussex Routine Dental Care Managed Clinical Network and also sits on the BDA’s General Dental Practice Committee and is involved in teaching and peer review too.

Sam Watt joined the University of Sheffield in 2022 as an Academic Clinical Fellow and Specialty Registrar in Dental Public Health. Her research interests include reducing oral health inequalities and the prevention of head and neck cancer. She co-led the Atlas of Health Variation in Head and Neck Cancer, a national report published by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID), which highlighted stark inequalities and informed policy recommendations. She has also contributed to the Child of the North report, an evidence-based initiative addressing children’s oral health inequalities. Sam co-led the development of the first Atlas of health variation in head and neck cancer in England.