2023 Rowden White Scholarship Winners: Celebrating the Achievements of Our Exceptional PhD Students
Congratulations to our PhD students who were awarded the 2023 Rowden White Scholarship! This scholarship was established with a donation from Sir Alfred Edward Rowden White and is offered to students undertaking research studies with Melbourne Dental School, Melbourne Medical School, Melbourne School of Engineering, Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences or Faculty of Science. More information on the scholars below.
 | Project title: Culturally Safe Dental Practice Eliza Collins is a Melbourne University trained Oral Health Therapist graduating in 2017. She has worked in remote NSW and regional Victoria for ACCHOS, delivering dental care to the local communities. She has completed an honours program on the perceptions of oral health within a Victorian Aboriginal community, and is currently undertaking a PhD located around culturally safe dental care delivery. |
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 | Project title: Investigating the Composition and Spatial Organization of Microbial Assemblages in the Subgingival Plaque Miss Ananya Padmakumar is a Ph.D. student at the Melbourne Dental School, supervised by A/Professor Paul Veith. She earned a master’s degree in microbiology with first rank and a GPA of 9.83. Recently, she obtained a second master’s in technology from IIT Hyderabad with a GPA of 9.57. Ananya's primary interest lies in understanding the role of secretion systems in bacterial pathogenesis. Her master’s dissertation at the Indian Institute of Science focused on the role of a T3SS effector X encoded by SPI-5 in subverting autophagy, where she gained expertise in bacterial gene cloning, mammalian/murine cell culture, animal handling, and confocal microscopy. Ananya is proficient in biodegradable nanoparticle synthesis, RT-PCR, western blotting, affinity chromatography, and autophagy monitoring. Her current research focuses on investigating the composition and spatial organization of microbial assemblages in subgingival plaque (SubP) samples isolated from periodontal patients. The subgingival bacteria responsible for periodontitis forms polymicrobial biofilms, commonly known as SubP which accumulate on the tooth and surrounding surfaces. While microbiome studies have advanced our knowledge, limitations persist, necessitating further exploration into SubP's spatial organization and structural intricacies. Using fluorescent in situ hybridization probes, spectral imaging alongside omics, and other techniques, we aim to map the highly patterned microbial assemblages and their role in periodontitis. The insights gained can aid in the development of preventive and therapeutic strategies, contributing directly to the goal of reducing the burden of oral disease. |
 | Project title: Modification of Dental Implants to Reduce Peri-implantitis Dr Negar Yazdani graduated with a Doctor of Dental Surgery degree from Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Iran, in March 2021. As the top-ranking student at the university, she was a member of the Talented Students Association throughout her dental studies. Renowned for innovation, she patented a novel device endorsed internationally (World Intellectual Property Organization, PCT) and nationally (Iranian Intellectual Property Organization), focusing on controlling infected aerosol transmission and administering controlled inhalational anesthetics in dental offices and healthcare settings. Her research expertise spans antimicrobial dental materials, leading to being awarded a prestigious full scholarship for a PhD at the University of Melbourne. Their current focus is on innovating proper antimicrobial coatings for dental implants to combat peri-implantitis. |
 | Project title: Investigating the management of severe dental infections in children Dr Rachelle Welti graduated from the University of Melbourne with a Bachelor of Biomedicine and Doctor of Dental Surgery. She has worked as a dentist in both public and private settings as well as The Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne. She currently holds the role of Clinical Lecturer in Paediatric Dentistry at Melbourne Dental School. Rachelle is completing her PhD looking at the management of paediatric odontogenic infections. She is a member of the Royal Australasian College of Dental Surgeons in Primary Dental Sciences and appointed member of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Paediatric Dentistry (VIC) and eviDent Foundation Development Committee. |
 | Project title: Assessment Facio-Cervical and Oro-Dental Trauma Resulting from Strangulation: A Forensic Medical Study of Contemporary Populations Scotia Mullin (He/They) is a PhD Candidate at the Melbourne Dental School. Scotia has a background in biological/forensic anthropology and public health and is conducting research on strangulation in Australia in both living and deceased populations incorporating aspects of anthropology, pathology, and epidemiology. Scotia is an active member of the LGBTQ+ community and aims to produce intersectional and holistic research to help improve quality of life for historically excluded groups and marginalised peoples. |
 | Project title: Developing Early-life Microbiome-based Caries Risk Assessment/Prediction Tools Yeganeh Khazaei is a dentist and epidemiologist. She has recently commenced her role as a PhD candidate in the Melbourne Dental School, University of Melbourne and Murdoch Children's Research Institute. Before starting this role, she worked as a researcher in the faculty of mathematics, statistics and data science of Ludwig Maximilians Universität of Munich, Germany. Within this position, she was working with various datasets (including but not limited to COVID -19, vaccination and gut microbiome data), using different modeling approaches and frameworks (Generalized Additive Models to Bayesian framework). Yeganeh has an extensive academic background, expertise in R language programming, with papers published in the renowned journals. |