Queen’s New Year’s Honour for Professor

Professor Barbara Chadwick, former Director of Education & Students and acting co-Head of School, at Cardiff University, School of Dentistry has been awarded an MBE in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours list for services to Paediatric Dental Health.

Cardiff University welcomed Professor Barbara Chadwick when she was waiting for a post to specialise in periodontology to come up but decided to pursue Paediatric Dentistry instead. She spent the next 35 years at Cardiff University and is responsible for developing one of the most well-known and highly respected Paediatric Dentistry departments in the country.

Professor Chadwick’s services to Dentistry and Education go well beyond delivery of the day-to-day job, in clinical care and her teaching roles. She has had a pivotal part in creating research and she has been responsible for contributing to not just producing research such as the big NIHR Trials Seal or Varnish and FiCTION but she has been instrumental in leading change in Paediatric Dentistry across the UK by implementing research into her patient care and her student teaching.

Beyond that, since 2003 Professor Chadwick has been responsible for helping deliver the regular Dental Health Surveys that monitor the dental health of children and adults in England and Wales, as well as being used regularly to inform and monitor policy effectiveness.

Having seen 34 classes graduate from Cardiff University, Professor Chadwick said that ‘I am delighted and extremely honoured to be receiving this award and, in all honesty, I’m left a bit speechless! My career has been the most incredible journey and among the achievements I am most proud of is the number of dental students who have chosen Paediatric Dentistry as a career, some now working as Specialists and Consultants across the UK; My real legacy is the people I leave behind.’

Professor Nicola Innes, Head of School, School of Dentistry said  ‘The things that always stand out about Professor Chadwick, in whatever capacity, is her unfailing brightness, her farsightedness and her sharp wit. She has never viewed herself as being influential and has always said she was only a small cog in strong teams but I would beg to differ and say that the professional credibility Professor Chadwick carried with her in a career that has spanned all aspects of academia from teaching, research administration and unfailing support for less experienced colleagues has translated into enormous impact that goes beyond the wonderful legacy she left behind at Cardiff Dental School and Paediatric Dentistry in the UK. I am delighted to see this recognition of her and her hard work.’

To find out more about the Queen’s Honour List and Awards visit https://www.awardsintelligence.co.uk/.