Born and educated in the Southwest and then entered the Royal London Hospital Dental School in 1990. Following preclinical years at Dental School was invited to undertake an intercalated BSc in Physiology with Basic Medical Science and selected to obtain a Medical Research Council Grant to support this period of study. Completed BSc in 1993 obtaining a First Class Honours Degree and then went on to complete BDS in 1996, qualifying with Distinction in Restorative Dentistry. After significant experience in practice then went on to UCL Eastman undertaking MSc Conservative Dentistry with Distinction in 2002. Specialist Registrar training in Restorative Dentistry 2003 – 2007 UCLH. PhD Clinical Dentistry (Biomaterials) 2009. Having completed academic and specialist training in London, Chris returned to Devon in 2010 to take up a Chair with the University of Plymouth and became Acting Head in 2011 and Head of its Dental School in 2012.
While Head of the Dental School at the University of Plymouth, Chris oversaw the development of a five year Dental programme, a fully integrated Dental Hygiene and Therapy degree programme and six clinical master’s programmes. Also involved with development of, and served as a Director on, Peninsula Dental Social Enterprise, a community interest company that runs the NHS side of the school. This company generates £9 million of income that is not top-sliced and complements the circa £10 million of income into the Dental School. Since Chris was the Head of School, the Dental School rose through the league tables from bottom to top 3 in the Guardian University League table in the last 5 years to top in the 2022 league table. Student satisfaction also significantly increased again consistently being in the top UK 3 (from bottom in 2011). Since Chris being Head of the School, research income increased from zero up to 2011 to a total grant income of over £22 million by 2022. Chris led an agreement with the Kuwait Embassy to take 10 Kuwaiti students in to a six year BDS programme with an intake from 2022 – 2028 (worth over £7.5 million in teaching income over the period and £5.1 million in DUT equivalent).
Chris had a key role in Equality and Diversity while at the University of Plymouth. He established the Dental Schools Dental Equality Self-Assessment Team and held leadership roles in first achieving and Athena Swan Bronze Award and then on to three Athena Swan Silver Awards.
Chris was elected Chair of Dental Schools Council July 2020 to July 2023. While Chair of Dental Schools Council, Chris negotiated emergency Covid investment into the Dental Schools and Trusts of circa £32 million and the development of mitigations to safely return dental students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Chris negotiated additional time for entry into Dental Foundation Training during Covid Pandemic to allow maximum time to become safe beginners. 96.88% of dental students graduated on time in July 2021 from England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Chris is currently chairing national task and finish groups to establish the future undergraduate training requirements in the UK.
Chris is an active practitioner and maintained passion and commitment to general and specialist dental practice throughout his career. Chris is also an active researcher, having published over 80 papers, supervised 17 PhD students and over 50 Masters projects to date. Chris is involved with active research groups on nanomaterials and regenerative medicine in Plymouth.
As well as being a Professor of Restorative Dentistry, Chris is a registered specialist with the General Dental Council in Endodontics, Periodontics, Prosthodontics and Restorative Dentistry.
Chris completed his Term at Plymouth in July 2023 and took up a new post as Dean and Institute Director QMUL on the 1st August 2023.