Fiona is the Executive Director and Emeritus Chair of the Society of British Dental Nurses. She is also the Acting Chair of The National Oral Health Group. She acts as a key opinion leader and is an advisor for oral health education and preventative programs across the dental arena, as well as infection control and professional practice. She is a former President of BADN and examiner for NEBDN and writes prolifically as an editor for Dental Nursing Journal.

Fiona is a trained mentor and has fostered and developed a mentoring culture in a number of areas both within and outside of dentistry. Her Mentoring work has been far-reaching and more recently has included supporting a scheme to help dental colleagues when working with underperforming dentists. Fiona is the founder of ‘Dental Mentoring Network’ and a member of Dental Mentors UK.

Her final dissertation for her M.Ed L.M. looked closely at the concept of leadership as a potential mechanism of change, which has given her greater insight into the ever-changing world of health, education, and dentistry. This has also helped her in her role as an External Examiner both in the UK and in Ireland. Fiona is also a GDC Education Associate and Registration Panel Member.

She has recently completed an MSc PG Cert in Human Factors for Patient Safety and leads the Human Factors in Dentistry Group. During the pandemic Fiona was a driving force behind Mental Health Wellness in Dentistry. She is a p/t Academic Lead and Moderator for Dental Nursing at Bangor University Bangor.

She received an honorary Fellowship from the Faculty of General Dental Practitioners (UK) (the first DCP to do so), a Fellowship from the Faculty of Dental Trainers at the Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh, and a Fellow of the Institute of Administrators and Managers. More recently she became a member of the Academy of Medical Educators and the Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors.

Finally, Fiona is a trustee for Dentaid and a co-founder of the International Federation of Dental Assistants and Nurses and speaks both nationally and internationally on a wide range of topics. She was hugely honoured to receive a Queen’s Honour in 2019 has become a dental nurse historian.