ACADEMIC MEMBERS

Lakshman Samaranayake, Hon DSc, Hon FDSRCSE, BDS, DDS (Glas), FRCPath (UK), MIBiol, FCDSHK, FHKCPath, FHKAM (Pathol & Dent Surg.) is Dean of the Dental Faculty, Chair of Oral Microbiology, and Director of the Prince Philip Dental Hospital at Hong Kong University. He is also an honorary professor at the Eastman Dental Institute in London and earned his doctoral degree at the University of Glasgow, UK. A renowned expert in oral infections and infection control, Professor Samaranayake lectures worldwide and has published more than 400 articles and seven books, translated into several languages. He is Chairman of the Science Committee of the FDI and Vice-President of the Oral Medicine and Pathology Group of the International Association for Dental Research (IADR).

Oene Hokwerda is emeritus professor in dental ergonomics at the University of Groningen, The Netherlands, where he was placed in charge of developing teaching dental ergonomics in 1965. He was also involved in designing a working stool for the dentist, which is still in use. He has been consultant of the Commission on Dental Practice of the FDI, Chairman of the Dutch WG Dental Ergonomics and, from 1992, Secretary General, Vice-President and President of the European Society of Dental Ergonomics. Professor Hokwerda currently oversees the practical training of dental ergonomics as part of preclinical and clinical courses of dental and dental hygiene students.

Nikos Mattheos graduated from the University of Athens Dental Faculty in 1997 and completed his PhD degree in the University of Malmö, Sweden in 2004. His field of research is health informatics with a special interest in information technology and education in dentistry. His research, disseminated through many publications in international journals, has received several awards, including the prestigious IADR annual prize in 2003. He has designed and evaluated software and educational applications for healthcare professionals and has organized and executed several courses for dentists in the field of modern technologies. He currently is an associate professor at the Faculty of Odontology, University of Malmö and a resident at the Department of Periodontology and Fixed Prosthodontics, School of Dental Medicine, Bern, Switzerland.

Mikael Zimmerman, DDS, PhD, is associated professor and assigned reader in Clinical Oral Diagnosis at the Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden, and is currently affiliated with the Institutet's Department of Clinical Science, Division of E.N.T. Diseases. He is cofounder of BZB CareSystems AB, a private enterprise working with education, quality-assurance and development in the dental field. He has published over 20 peer-reviewed papers, 50 abstracts and three textbooks. He is the author of over 30 papers on cross-infection control and has authored the Swedish Dental Association advice on cross infection, as well as the Recommendations by the Swedish National Bureau of Health and Welfare on hygiene standards in dental practice.

Marco Ferrari graduated from the School of Surgery and Medicine at the University of Pisa (Italy) and received a degree in general dentistry from the University of Siena (Italy). He completed a postgraduate programme in Prosthodontics at Tufts University, Boston and has a PhD on bonding to dental structures from the University of Amsterdam. He has held various academic and administrative positions at the School of Dental Medicine at Siena University. He has also worked at the School of Dental Medicine at Tufts University in several teaching roles. He is currently Secretary of the Academy of Dental Materials and President of European Federation of Conservative Dentistry. He is on the editorial boards of several international dental journals, has authored 190 international publications, 260 national publications and 160 abstracts presented at international and national congresses.

Nick Cooper, BDS, DGDP(UK), MGDS RCS(Lon) and FFGDP(UK) graduated in dentistry at the University of Dundee and subsequently worked in over a dozen practices. He also worked in hospital practice in orthodontic, high risk and restorative departments. He is formerly a part time undergraduate lecturer at the dental faculty at Liverpool University (UK). His time is currently spent between running a training programme for new graduates, practicing in Chester and lecturing to general practitioners and incoming dentists to the United Kingdom.

INDUSTRY MEMBERS

Martina Schulz studied of economics at the University of Cologne, majoring in marketing. She has subsequently worked as a product manager at Bayer Dental and as a contract manager at an advertising agency, specializing in pharmacy. She owns an oral healthcare shop ‘Mouth and Teeth’ in Cologne and as a result interacts with many dentists from this area. Since 2000, she has been the marketing manager at J. Morita Europe in Dietzenbach.

Henri Lenn received his tertiary education in commerce in Sydney, Australia. Prior to his current appointment as President of GC Europe, he founded Ducera Dental in Germany, which was later sold to Degussa AG. Subsequently, he was appointed as Vice President of sales and marketing for Degussa Dental and after that, was CEO of Heraeus Kulzer.

Jurgen Eberlein has worked in the dental industry for the past 30 years in several key leadership positions. Starting off with a Doctorate in Chemistry, he became involved in the German Dental Industry (VDDI), as a member of its advisory council and later as its President. In parallel to this, he undertook a leadership role at the Federation of the European Dental Industry (FIDE), first as an executive board member and then for 6 years as President. He was subsequently elected as president of the world umbrella organisation of the dental industry, the International Dental Manufacturers (IDM). His current appointment came after nine years as president of GC Europe, when he was appointed director of the GC Corporation at the beginning of February 2005.

Bjorn Friis graduated from Aalborg Technical School and obtained qualifications in business management from the Roskilde University Business in Denmark. He has over 20 years experience in the technical medical equipment industry and 6 years with dental equipment. Since 2000 he has worked as export manager for Heka Dental, a leading Danish dental manufacturer in Europe. He has extensive experience in the dental markets of Scandinavia, the Baltic countries, Russia and the SNG countries.

Michel Paten is CEO of W&H Sterilization in Italy. He worked in the dental industry for his entire career, across Europe and as far afield as the USA.

Friederich Herbst qualified as a civic engineer and worked for Siemens AG for 48 years, of which he spent 35 in the company's dental division. After retiring as Senior Vice President for International Sales, he has worked for the International Dental Manufacturing Association (idm). He is a member of the former North Western University, Chicago Dental School Visiting Committee, an honorary member of the South African Dental Association and the former Dental Manufacturers Association in the USA. He also serves on the FDI World Dental Federation Education Committee as Consultant for the Industry.