The Vice-Chancellor of Charles Sturt University (CSU), Professor Ian Goulter, has announced the appointment of Professor Ward Massey as the Foundation Head of the University’s School of Dentistry and Health Sciences.

 

Professor Goulter said Professor Massey was an outstanding appointment whose international experience and reputation would help to establish CSU’s dental and oral health program as the leading program in Australia. [See Background notes]

 

“I am delighted to announce that Professor Massey will take up his appointment from January 2008 to oversee the establishment of the CSU program,” he said.

 

CSU was granted $65.1 million in the May 2007 Federal Budget to establish a dental and oral health school based in Orange and Wagga Wagga, with Dental Education Clinics in Bathurst, Albury-Wodonga and Dubbo, commencing in 2009.

 

“Professor Massey’s Australian and international teaching and research experience will facilitate the recruitment of more leading dental and oral health academics of the highest calibre to CSU,” Professor Goulter said.

 

“He will visit Australia briefly in September 2007 to meet key University staff, be briefed on the advanced construction program for the new facilities and discuss curriculum development.”

 

Speaking from the United States where he is currently a Professor in Restorative Dentistry at the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery, University of Maryland, Professor Massey said that he was excited by the challenge of helping to create a new national school of dentistry at CSU.

 

“This is a rare and wonderful opportunity to create something new for both the dental profession and the people of Australia,” Professor Massey said.

 

“One of the most exciting aspects of the initiative is the opportunity to build a new program in inland Australia which will have a real and immediate impact on the general health and well-being of Australia’s inland communities. With family living in regional Queensland and having worked in my early years in Broken Hill, I appreciate the problems that are created by lack of access to health services for rural and remote communities.

 

“I want to make sure that my contribution to establishing the new school builds on CSU’s established reputation for providing high quality health programs and clinically prepared graduates.

 

“Together we will establish a school that is internationally recognised as offering one of the world’s best dental training programs,” he said.

 

Contact CSU Media to arrange interviews with the Vice-Chancellor of CSU, Professor Ian Goulter. See additional professional notes about Professor Massey below in Background notes. See more on dentistry at CSU here. http://www.csu.edu.au/student/dentistry/

 

 

Professor Massey received his Bachelor of Dental Surgery from the University of Adelaide prior to commencing practice at the Broken Hill Mines Dental Clinic and subsequently in the South Australian Dental Hospital. 

 

He has gained extensive experience in academia in Australia with appointments at the Universities of Adelaide, Sydney and Western Australia.  His clinical experience was grounded in Westmead Hospital Clinical School, with the armed forces and as Clinical Director at the Colgate Australian Clinical Dental Research Centre in Adelaide.

 

Moving to the United States in 2001 to further his academic career, Professor Massey joined the University of Maryland’s School of Dentistry, the direct descendant of the world's first dental college – the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery – specialising in restorative dentistry and comprehensive care.

 

He subsequently took up an appointment as Assistant Professor in Restorative Dentistry & Biomaterials at Harvard University School of Dental Medicine. 

 

In November 2005 he returned to the University of Maryland as Professor in Endodontics, Prosthodontics & Operative Dentistry and was a key participant in the planning and construction of a new ten storey, 328 chair dental clinical school which opened in September 2006. This new school is to date the largest single educational project for the University of Maryland. Professor Massey is also currently Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.

 

Professor Massey’s research interests are focused on the fields of clinical dentistry and oral health.  In 1988, he was the recipient of a National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (NRMHC) four year postgraduate scholarship. His research has focused on the role of bacteria in inflammation of the oral tissues and degradation of bone in both human and animal models.

 

In March 2002, he commenced clinical research activities in the Gene Transfer and Therapeutics Branch of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research in Bethesda, Maryland, investigating the relationship between the presence of specific micro-organisms, auto-immune disease and dry mouth conditions.

 

He is presently involved in a number of clinical trials, including being a co-investigator in a study sponsored by Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratories.