We are delighted to announce that Mike Milward has been promoted to Professor of Periodontology.

Mike moved to a number of hospitals before embarking on his dental career starting his undergraduate Studies at the University of Birmingham in 1989. Mike qualified in 1993 and after working in General Dental Practice returned to the School of Dentistry undertaking a number of junior hospital / teaching roles, before appointment as a full-time clinical lecturer in Periodontology in 1999.

Since his appointment Mike has developed a profile both in teaching and research, becoming a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and successfully completing his PhD in 2010. He was accepted onto the GDC specialist list and promoted to Senior Lecturer / Honorary Consultant in Periodontology in 2012 and to Reader in 2017. Mike has also been awarded ‘Faculty membership’ by the British Society of Periodontology in recognition of his contribution to the society and under / postgraduate education.

Mike’s research encompasses a wide range of topics both within and out with dental research. From an oral health point of view his main area of research relates to periodontitis from education to understanding the causes through to developing new treatments to help manage this important disease. His work has been recognised nationally and international with a number of prestigious research awards. In addition to his biologically based research he has develop a project looking at helping students in their transition from non-clinical to clinical studies. This was a joint project with Nottingham Trent University fund by the Birmingham University Alumni Fund to develop biofidelic oral teaching models to help students learn to how to examine the oral tissues. This project is already helping students at Birmingham and has gained considerable attention both within academic circles and with industry in licencing the technology. Outside of Dentistry he works on a range of projects with multi-national companies and the Ministry of defence investigating the translatable potential of light therapy in decontamination and wound healing. Mike along with his colleagues Professors Paul Cooper and Will Palin founded the ‘Photobiomodulation Group’ within the School of Dentistry which has attracted significant research funding and collaborations with industrial colleagues.

Mike was recently been appointed (2019) to Deputy Director of Education for the College of Medical & Dental Sciences. This key College role is primarily concerned with Quality Assurance of educational provision across our college including undergraduate programmes in Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy and Nursing as well as the wide variety of post graduate programmes run across these schools.

Nationally he is heavily involved in promoting his specialty of Periodontology and has held a number of key roles within the British Society of Periodontology (BSP) including Education Committee member, Council member and Treasurer, a post he held for 5 years. During his time with the society he has developed a range of initiatives aimed at improving the knowledge and management of periodontitis within the dental community and increasing patient awareness of periodontal disease. Mike is now President Elect for 2022 and looks forward to bringing the BSP annual Conference to Birmingham during his presidential year.

Mike was successfully promoted to Professor of Periodontology in 2019 following a rigorous selection process, primarily for his contribution to research but also his involvement in undergraduate and post graduate education, his administrative roles and his long term contribution to the University of Birmingham.

Well done Mike.