A Q&A with Professor Peter Thomson
JCU ranks as one of the top universities in the country to pursue a career in Dentistry. The popularity of the course is a testament to the calibre of academic staff equipping future dentists for the far north region and beyond.
At the helm is Professor Peter Thomson, the Head of Dentistry and Professor of Oral and Maxillofacial Sciences. He joined the team recently and shared a little bit about himself, his first impressions of JCU Dentistry and what he hopes to achieve, plus a few thoughts about life in the tropics…
Professor Thomson, you’re about two months into the job now. How are things going so far?
Well, in the first place, I was honoured to have been asked to take on the role! I am very much looking forward to the months and the years ahead, where I hope we will grow our team of clinical educators and move forward together in a very collegial way. It is an amazing team atmosphere here with a clear vision for the future.
Where were you working before coming to JCU?
I was the Associate Dean for the Faculty of Dentistry at the University of Hong Kong and Director of the Prince Philip Dental Hospital. It was an amazing experience that I hadn’t planned on. I was working in Brisbane at the University of Queensland and the opportunity to go to Hong Kong came up. I said no at first, actually, I said no two or three times! But then I thought if I didn’t take it, I would always wonder. I’m so pleased to have done it, but I’m also pleased to be here now with JCU.
What inspired you to choose a career in dentistry?
Looking back, I think it was a combination of things. I wanted to help people and offer a level of expertise, knowledge and skill that perhaps they couldn’t get elsewhere. I think that was the entry point for me as a dentist, but then I took my journey further to study medicine and then undertook more specialised training in maxillofacial surgery.
What interested you in going down the path of academics and education in dentistry?
I think part of it was wanting to increase the knowledge base and understand more about disease. My particular interest is mouth cancer; why some people get mouth cancer and why others don't, why the disease progresses in some instances and not others, how we can identify people who are most at risk, and most importantly how to intervene to stop them from getting the disease. Improved understanding of all this can lead to real advances in our treatment and management strategies. So all of this, I think led to an interest in research and development. I believe research is integral to high-quality education; it informs everything we do in terms of teaching and clinical practice.
What’s your first impression of the JCU Cairns Nguma-bada Campus and the dentistry facilities?
The campus is phenomenal. It's one of the most stunning places I've ever worked. As you work in the clinic, and look around you and see the beauty of the tropical countryside up towards the mountains, and it’s very inspiring. JCU Dentistry is very young, first receiving students in 2009, so the facilities here are quite simply some of the best, most modern and sophisticated in the world.
What’s an average day look like for you in your role as Head of Dentistry, so far?
Well, it is very variable. Of course, being the Head involves rather a lot of committees and meetings, which is not my favourite part. I enjoy going to the clinic and watching our students in action. I aspire to continue offering advice and expertise directly to patients, so I still undertake regular clinical sessions myself. I'm also really passionate about developing a global research and discovery mission for Dentistry. So my day is amazing and full; a mixture of academic, clinical research and treatment. I think I've got the best job in the world.
We know JCU Dentistry is a very popular course and that students come from far and wide to study here. Why do you think it is so popular?
Yes, JCU Dentistry has been in high demand and I am delighted to say there are no signs of that changing. Within Australia, JCU Dentistry ranks very highly. Student surveys show we’re often the most popular course and very highly rated for looking after our students, for graduate employability and salary, so that might contribute to our popularity. I think what’s going on with the global pandemic has made people appreciate even more how important our health care professionals are, and I suspect we’re going to see ever increasing demand for our courses.
What is some of the feedback you’ve received from students or graduates?
Many of our graduates appreciate the level of hands-on clinical experience we offer at JCU. Right from the second year, where extensive hands-on work takes place in our clinical simulation clinic, through to the third and the fourth years, where there is a high patient care load. Then in the final year, we have the capstone experience, where our students go out to various public health dental providers throughout regional and remote Queensland and also to Tasmania. It’s in those places our students gain extensive clinical experience, and I think that’s what they look back on and rate so highly.
What’s the primary goal you’re aiming to achieve during your time here?
To me, the vision is very clear. We are aiming to be the premier Oral Health Institute in Australia by 2025. We will develop a global academic profile and deliver expertise in integrating oral health with general health for our population into the future.
As you know, JCU has a strong focus on equipping health professionals who serve rural and regional communities. Have you had much insight into the need for more dentists in these areas and what JCU is doing to address this issue?
Well, I am still the new boy in town, but it is very clear to me that the ratio of dentists in rural and regional Australia is poorer than one sees in metropolitan areas. One of the great successes for JCU in its just over 11-year history in Dentistry is that many of our graduates have been recruited from the region and stay here in the region to improve and deliver high-quality health care to the local population. That is something I'm sure JCU Dentistry is proud of, and something I hope we will continue to grow in the future.
Do you have a message for students on why they should consider placements or careers in regional, rural or remote areas of Australia?
I would say that it is very rewarding in the sense of the scope and the variety of practice you will get in more regional areas. It is challenging, demanding, and exciting. I think it is potentially more stretching of the individual than when you work in a metropolitan area, surrounded by colleagues, surrounded by specialists, surrounded by hospitals. It's a different type of responsibility. And I think integrating oral health with general health will help our practitioners in more regional areas.
For those looking to take on placements or careers in these kinds of areas, how does JCU prepare them?
We work very hard with our partners to align our academic teaching with clinical practice, to ensure all our clinical tutors and clinical supervisors understand where our students are at across various points in their educational journey, what we expect of them, and how the students ought to be assessed and given feedback. So we have a careful quality assurance mechanism with coordinators looking after each of the years of the course. Particularly in the fifth year, a major role of the year five coordinator is fostering the relationship between students on placement and the placement supervisors.
How did COVID-19 affect the school of Dentistry and delivery of courses and how has it changed the experience going forward?
COVID-19 has affected every dental school in the world as the profession has adjusted to a new era of airborne pathogen transmission risk. It has, however, allowed us to develop and further enhance our existing stringent infection control practices in dentistry to ensure optimal safety for our students, staff and, perhaps most importantly, our patients in the complex and demanding dental school clinical teaching environment. A steep, but highly rewarding learning curve! Also, there is little doubt that the pandemic has vastly improved our ability to communicate more efficiently and to interact effectively online, which has real potential to enhance blended and interactive learning in the years ahead. So, I guess every cloud has some form of silver lining!
What tips do you have for new students embarking on a career in dentistry?
I've always believed in encouraging students to follow their hearts. What we try to do is encourage students to immerse themselves in the subjects. We reassure them that although Dentistry is a difficult and demanding course, we’ve been through it. It is obvious it involves a lot of hard work, but we try to impart to them that what we’re doing here ultimately helps them become the high-quality graduates our communities rely on.
How are you liking Cairns and life in the tropical far north so far?
I had first visited this part of the world in 2016 when I was working for the University of Queensland. The tropical region here is very easy to fall in love with. The lifestyle is fantastic, the scenery is beautiful, people are friendly, and the environment is conducive to enjoying life. It’s a pretty good combination.