Dental Alumni Awards

The Alumnus Distinguished Service Award this year went to Professor Stephen Dunne. This prize is intended to honour a long-serving member of staff who has made a significant contribution to the Dental Institute or one of its constituent Schools.

Professor Dunne is Maurice Wohl Chair in Primary Dental Care and Advanced Dental Practice at King's College London Dental Institute. He is a long-serving educationalist, clinician and researcher and has made major contributions to the Dental Institute from administrative, clinical teaching and academic perspectives.

He has led primary dental care at the Dental Institute for over ten years and has championed dental surgery assistants, hygienists and therapists as clinical director and through training programmes, committees and national bodies. He is currently President of the European Federation of Conservative Dentistry and was elected to Vice-President of the King's College London Dental Alumni Association with immediate effect.  

Professor Dunne is a popular winner, notably through his support of students, past and present, helping them through finals and beyond.

Commenting on his achievement, he said: ‘I was surprised but delighted to be nominated for the Alumnus Distinguished Service Award. However, my expectations of the final outcome were not high since my co-nominees are all distinguished colleagues at the Dental Institute and very worthy of receiving the award. I anticipate that their contributions will be fully and formally recognised in the near future. Imagine my surprise then, at the recent Alumni dinner, when it began to dawn on me that the President was reading out a very familiar curriculum vitae! I am delighted and honoured to receive this award and thank all of my friends and colleagues for their much-valued support. My hope is that, as a newly elected vice president of the Alumni Association, I may be able to continue my service to the Dental Institute and King’s for many more years.’