To celebrate Women’s History Month, Naomi Douglas and Chloe Poole (UBDSS), in collaboration with the ED&I Committee, asked some of our female staff to reflect on their careers, achievements, inspirations, and challenges they’ve overcome. This is just a small portion of the inspiring women that we work with at Bristol Dental School.
The next in our series is Professor Nicola West.
What advice would you give your dental student/younger self?
Invest in yourself and have an opportunist outlook, make yourself indispensable and appreciate the value of mentorship.
What’s the greatest achievement of your career so far?
My greatest achievement is being elected the Secretary General of the European Federation of Periodontology and the first woman to lead this organisation.
Which women have inspired you in your career?
Whilst I was particularly fortunate to have an inspiring mentor who gave me opportunity, I am now endeavouring to fulfil this role as an inspiration to all young oral healthcare professionals.
What have been the biggest challenges or triumphs for you during the pandemic?
Leading the British Society of Periodontology and Implant Dentistry to introduce the new periodontal management guidance to the UK including leading the guideline workshop, publishing the BSP implementation of the European S3 level evidenced based treatment guideline for stage I-III periodontitis in UK clinical practice and disseminating an infographic algorithm to every oral healthcare professional to improve the quality of periodontal treatment for the UK population.
If you’d like to contribute to this blog series, simply email your answers (and an image of yourself) to ords-swan@bristol.ac.uk.