Eric Rooney, who took up his post as Deputy CDO in 2015, is already an honorary senior lecturer in the UCLan School of Dentistry and this latest appointment, focusing on dental and oral health policy, will allow him to work more closely with the school on academic delivery and more widely on enhancing the quality of primary dental care in the north west.
The Head of the UCLan School of Dentistry, Angela Magee, welcomed Eric’s appointment. She said: “Eric’s work, predominantly in the field of dental public health, has long been recognised within the sector where he has made a significant impact on dental strategy at both regional and national levels.
“What people may not realise however is that there would quite simply be no dental school at UCLan were it not for Eric’s absolute commitment and drive to spearhead, on behalf of the NHS, the initiative to ensure that NHS dentists would be trained in areas of high dental need within this region. The ensuing higher education and NHS partnership saw a successful bid to create the UCLan Dental School, which opened in 2008. Since that time the school has gone from strength to strength and Eric has continued to provide active support, both through stakeholder engagement and direct contribution to academic delivery.”
Professor Rooney said “I am delighted to have been offered this honorary professorship and hope I can continue to support the development of the School of Dentistry within the university, ensuring that our graduates are exposed to the variety of career options available to them and are well prepared to deal with the changing health needs of our population.”
Angela added: “Eric is a tremendous role model for our students and has enabled them to have an understanding of the impact that dental policy will have on their future careers and the part that they, as professionals, must play in contributing to policy planning.
“The school has benefited enormously from Eric’s input to date and we will continue to work together in order to enhance the quality of primary dental care in the north west, through the provision of educational opportunities for the extended dental team.”