Melbourne Dental School – Strategic Grants for Outstanding Women

Originally launched for the first time in 2019 by the Melbourne Medical School, the Melbourne Dental School has introduced its own Strategic Grants for Outstanding Women scheme. The biennially scheme aims to support talented women in the School in their career progression by enabling them to pursue opportunities that contribute to their academic work and profile. It also aims to recognise the work of talented and established women in academic dentistry for their contributions and high performance in the School.

Introducing the 2021 Outstanding Women

Dr Mihiri Silva is the Divisional Lead of Population Health, Cariology and Oral Health at the Melbourne Dental School. A registered specialist paediatric dentist (DCD 2013), Mihiri is a Clinician-Scientist Fellow at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute and provides clinical care for patients at the Department of Dentistry, Royal Children's Hospital.

mihiri

Mihiri's PhD investigated early life risk factors for dental caries and enamel hypomineralisation, and her current research program continues to build on this life course approach using large longitudinal cohort studies and extends into early life interventions, dietary habits and other drivers of poor oral health in children.

Mihiri has published widely in peer-reviewed journals and presented at both local and international conferences and is a reviewer for a number of leading journals and conferences. Mihiri is the current deputy chair of the Australian Dental Association Federal Oral Health Committee, Vice President of the Australian New Zealand Society for Paediatric Dentistry Victorian Branch and Secretary of the Paediatric Oral Health Research Group of the International Association of Dental Research.

Mihiri has published widely in peer-reviewed journals and presented at both local and international conferences and is a reviewer for a number of leading journals and conferences. Mihiri is the current deputy chair of the Australian Dental Association Federal Oral Health Committee, Vice President of the Australian New Zealand Society for Paediatric Dentistry Victorian Branch and Secretary of the Paediatric Oral Health Research Group of the International Association of Dental Research.

The activities supported by the Strategic Grant for Outstanding Women will enable Mihiri to continue to develop her collaborative research program with MCRI. She hopes this will help her contribute to the growth of the Melbourne Dental School, from within, through its staff and students, as well as externally through engagement with partners and stakeholders. 


Dr. Tami Yap BDSc (Hons) DCD PhD FRACDS FOMAA is a senior lecturer at the Melbourne Dental School with a research focus in early detection of oral cancer. Tami holds clinical and teaching appointments at the Alfred Hospital, Royal Dental Hospital of Melbourne and the Skin Health Institute.

Tami

She is part of the Maxillofacial team and the multidisciplinary Immuno-bullous Dermatology team at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, Tami receives the 2021 Melbourne Dental School’s Strategic Grants for Outstanding Women with much gratitude.  Tami will utilize the funds received to contract the services of a Clinical Research Coordinator.  Time saved by receiving this support will be utilized towards new project design, funding grant application preparation, data analysis, manuscript preparation, research networking and other types of research advocacy.

Click here to meet the 2021 recipients Melbourne Medical School’s Strategic Grants for Outstanding Women.