Associate Professor in Dental Education and Research 

Associate Head of Peninsula Dental School - Teaching and Learning

Primary Care Dentist in Community Dentistry

Lead of Plymouth Oral Microbiome Research Group 

Zoe's current roles involve undertaking a variety of educational roles, including oversight of the Years 1-5 of the BDS Programme curriculum (Bachelor of Dental Surgery) and Years 1-3 of the DTH curriculum (Dental Hygiene and Therapy), Applied Dental Knowledge assessment co-lead, Enquiry Based Learning lead, Senior Admissions Tutor and Intercalating MSc Dental lead. These roles fulfil an interest in integrated healthcare models, applied and experiential learning, and Zoe helps to support early career researchers nationally through her role as Treasurer for the British Society of Oral and Dental Research.

 

Zoe takes pride in leading the Peninsula Dental School 2023 curriculum that was ranked first place in the Guardian League table for teaching quality in 2024 & 2025, third in the National Student Survey for student satisfaction, winner of the Times Higher Education Award for Community Dentistry. The University of Plymouth was also recently awarded a TEF Gold and the Faculty a Athena Swan Silver Award.  

 

In 2018 Zoe first established and led the this Plymouth Oral Microbiome Research Group alongside Dr Raul Bescos. Zoe now oversees a number of ongoing clinical trials being undertaken a primary care dental setting (Peninsula Dental Social Enterprise), that directly benefit the oral and general health of patients. She has set up and developed industrial partnerships with Haleon, Kenvue (USA) and Oralieve to support these studies. As well as imporvig gum health, the clinical research trials specifically investigate the mechanisms linking oral health and systemic disease, with a focus on cardiovascular disease and mouthwash use.

 

Zoe also leads blood pressure case finding clinics with Peninsula Dental Social Enterprise, which include investigating links between the oral microbiome and hypertension, pre-eclampsia and menopause. The gworing work on Womens' health is supporting the inclusivity and consideration of gender based differences needed when designing new treatments for managing oral health.  

 

The Plymouth work on antimicrobial mouthwashes on the oral microbiome has also gained national and onternational recognition, and publications in this field have led to leadership of the FDI task team on global recommendations for mouthwash use - coining the term ‘balancing the oral microbiome’ for best practice. She also recently presented on Radio 4 exploring the link between oral and systemic health to keep up the momentum to 'put the mouth back in the body' for holistic patient care. 

 

Before graduating to be Dentist from Peninsula Dental School (as one of the first cohorts in this pioneering new school), Zoe originally graduated with a BSc in Physiology and Pharmacology. This was followed by a PhD from the University of Sheffield, completed in 2000, which investigated the effects of anaesthetics on the microcirculation. In 2000-2002, Zoe then worked at the University of Alberta, Canada, Department of Physiology, as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow, being grant funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research, but returned to Sheffield as a Non-Clinical Lecturer and Principal Investigator between 2002-2010. Here, Zoe published in the field of sepsis, was Assistant Editor of the British Journal of Anaesthesia, and pioneered the early use of statins, with research identifying new drugs that improved blood flow and reduced inflammation during sepsis.  

 

Since graduating in dentistry from Plymouth University in 2014, Zoe has practised for 10 years as a general dentist for the NHS in Plymouth, with an interest in anxious patients and periodontal disease. This has now led to work in a community health care setting as a PDSE dentist, fulfilling ambitions to work as a health care provider serving those most at need of urgent restorative, surgical and periodontal treatment. This PDSE service is a unique model nationally, with Zoe as the lead dentist in the service offering care to homeless, refugees and women who have experienced domestic abuse.