• Charles Sturt senior lecturer chosen to speak at global oral health conference in Malaysia
• Iraqi-born academic teaches and coordinates the University’s general and oral pathology subjects
• Addressed leading oral medicine specialists from Japan, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, India, South Korea, Indonesia and other Asian countries

From Iraq to Malaysia via Orange: Charles Sturt University’s (Charles Sturt) Dr Muhammed Yakin travelled a long way in all senses of the words when he addressed some of the world’s leading dentistry experts last month.

The senior lecturer in Charles Sturt’s School of Dentistry and Health Sciences was chosen to be a guest speaker at the ninth Conference of the Asian Society of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology (CASOMP) in Kuala Lumpur from Thursday 22 to Saturday 24 August.

The Orange-based academic and clinician addressed leading oral medicine specialists from Japan, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, India, South Korea, Indonesia and other Asian countries on the topic of specialist oral pathology in Australia.

Dr Yakin’s presentation at the Malaysian capital’s Mahsa University campus outlined a challenging clinical case and presented the process of working through the likely diagnoses.

He said it was an honour and a privilege to represent the University on a global scale.

“Most of the delegates were not familiar with or had not heard about Charles Sturt University, so I was delighted I was able to put the University on their radar as a leading centre for dental education in regional Australia,” he said.

“I took this chance to talk about Charles Sturt and the meaning of ‘Yindyamarra Winhanganha’, the Wiradjuri phrase which translates to ‘the wisdom of respectfully knowing how to live well in a world worth living in’, which reflects the University’s ethos and approach to education.

“I would like to thank the Faculty of Science and Charles Sturt for providing me with the funds to attend and speak at the conference.”

The conference’s setting is far removed from Dr Yakin’s origins. He was born in Erbil, a city of almost one million people and the capital of Iraq’s Kurdistan region, which spans the north-eastern tip of the Arab nation.

In 2008 at the age of 23 he completed a Bachelor of Dental Surgery at Hawler Medical University in Erbil, before also finishing a Masters of Medical Science in Diagnostic Oral Pathology with Distinction from the University of Sheffield in England in 2011.

Five years later he earned his his Doctoral degree in Clinical Dentistry-Oral Pathology from the University of Otago before obtaining his Australian Dental Council Certificate the following year.

In May 2017 he joined Charles Sturt as a senior lecturer where he teaches and coordinates general and oral pathology subjects in the Bachelor of Dental Science.

In that role he has made both Orange and Australia his home, a fact that was underscored during one of his personal highlights of his time at CASOMP.

“The organisers held a roll call of all of the nations represented at the conference,” he said.

“The Australian flag was shown and I stood up as the Iraqi specialist representing Australia, something of which I feel very proud.”

Dr Yakin previously represented Charles Sturt and the Australasian region at a clinical pathological conference in Vancouver, Canada during the joint meeting of the International Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathologists and the American Academy of Oral Pathology.