Dr Paul Ashley qualified with BDS from the University of Manchester in 1991. After a one-year general duties houseman post in the Manchester Dental Hospital, he moved to the nearby Colgate Dental Health Unit where he completed his PhD entitled 'The Use of Electrical Impedance Measurements for the Diagnosis of Posterior Occlusal Caries in Clinical Trials'.
In 1998 he was appointed as a clinical lecturer in paediatric dentistry at the UCL Eastman Dental Institute and also worked part-time at the Great Ormond St Hospital for Children. In 2005 he assumed the role of programme director and in 2006 was promoted to senior lecturer/honorary consultant.
He currently is academic lead for the unit, which runs a professional doctorate and MSc programme in paediatric dentistry.
Dr Ashley also works closely with Dr Anne Young, supporting her work on the development of novel materials for dental restoration. He is also working with Professor Ian Needleman on the relationship between oral health and sport.
He has an interest in evidence-based dentistry and the management of pain and anxiety in children.
Associate Professor Dr. Shani Ann Mani
Dr. Shani Ann Mani graduated in 1995 from The Tamil Nadu Dr.M.G.R Medical University, Chennai, India with a Bachelor in Dental Surgery and in 1998 from the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (Panjab University), Chandigarh, India with a Master of Dental Surgery (Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry). She is also a member of the Royal College of Surgeons and Physicians of Glasgow since 2007.
She enjoys teaching having been in academia for more than 22 years, teaching Paediatric Dentistry to undergraduate and postgraduate students. She was appointed the post-graduate coordinator in Paediatric Dentistry at the Faculty of Dentistry, University Malaya since 2014. She has been an external and internal examiner for both undergraduate and postgraduate students during her career.
She is also keen in research and has authored about 30 articles published in international and national peer-reviewed journals, majority being indexed in the ISI Web of Science database, as well as contributed to chapters in books. She routinely reviews manuscripts for international journals in her field of specialisation and is on the editorial board of the European Archives of Paediatric Dentistry and Malaysian Journal of Paediatric Dentistry.
She has also obtained research grants pertaining to her research in Paediatric Dentistry over the course of her career. She is a member of the Indian Society of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry and Malaysian Association of Paediatric Dentistry besides other academic association