Fiona Ellwood BEM
Fiona has had an extensive career in dental nursing and dental nursing education; she has also undertaken several roles, with education being central to those, including the two roles she has with the General Dental Council (GDC). Over the years, she has undertaken a number of educational qualifications, from the most basic of teaching qualifications to postgraduate teaching qualifications, before moving into qualifications within the Higher Education setting. She holds a Post Graduate Certificate in Teaching as well as an undergraduate BA Honours in Education Studies, an MA in Education with an extended pathway of leadership and management and is in the final stages of her doctorate. Not forgetting her External Examiners roles both inside and outside the UK, programme development and quality assurance roles and advisory board roles in education settings and her development work in Wales to produce the first Welsh Dental Nursing qualification. Fiona has contributed to so many educational and strategic matters as part of the GDC stakeholder working parties. She will continue her honorary post as a Senior lecturer at the University of Portsmouth and her work with the GDC and the Society.
Fiona said, ‘It is a huge honour to be the first dental nurse appointed as the Director of Dental Education, which comes with the title of Assoc. Professor, I may well be the first, but I certainly hope I am not the last.” She went on to say none of us should be defined by our clinical registration, when offered the opportunity to take the dental hygiene or dental therapist route as a young person applying to dental schools, I declined, I wasn’t popular but I knew what my path was and let’s face it, if I hadn’t become a dental nurse, I would never have had the space or time to undertake all the wonderful courses and experiences that I have been fortunate to do and have. I am incredibly proud of being a dental nurse by registration. There has been much change in my time, but certainly not nearly enough.
Fiona is a former examiner for the National Examining Board for both the dental nursing qualification and the oral health education certificate, and was part of some of the development work when the NEBDN switched to the modern format. Fiona was awarded an outstanding award from the NEBDN. Fiona was also very much part of the Key Skills work with FGDP (UK) and was part of the West Midlands Branch of FGDP (UK), as well as being part of RCS Edinburgh’s Dental Education Advisory Group. She was the first DCP to receive an honorary Fellowship from RCS England Faculty of General Dental Practice (UK) and an early recipient of the RCS Edinburgh Fellowship for Dental Trainers.