Dr Rizwana Lala

BDS, MDPH (Distinction), DDPH RCS (Eng), PGCiLT, FHEA, PhD

School of Medicine and Population Health

Wellcome Trust Research Fellow

Honorary Consultant in Dental Public Health

rizwana.lala@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 215 9408

Profile

I joined the Division of Population Health in 2024 as a Wellcome Trust Research Fellow.

I am a qualified dentist and have worked in general dental practice, community dentistry and oral and maxillofacial surgery. In 2020, I completed academic dental public health training in Yorkshire and the Humber. My clinical public health portfolio includes dentistry, the national COVID response, and climate and sustainability. I am currently an honorary consultant in Dental Public Health at NHS England.

I am a mixed methods researcher including qualitative and quantitative methodologies. My interest in equality and diversity is reflected across my clinical, teaching and research practice. Using my research findings I make evidence-informed recommendations to widen participation and representation of women, racialised minorities and those from deprived backgrounds across health and university institutions.

Research interests

My ethnographic research integrates clinical public health and medical sociology to analyse how commercial involvement in health systems reinforces social inequalities along the intersections of race, class and gender.

My PhD in cosmetic dentistry investigated how healthcare is commercialised through beauty practices. I have been awarded a Wellcome Trust Early Career Fellowship (2023-2028) to examine how commercial involvement in sugar-related public health policies and practices impacts racialised communities.

Publications

Journal articles

Lala R (2024) A Critical Understanding of Inclusion in Oral Microbiome Research through the Lens of Racial Capitalism [Special issue of Community Dental Health, to be disseminated at the ‘The oral microbiome – from cells to populations’ International Association for Dental Research symposium, March 2024, New Orleans, USA]. Community Dental Health, 41(1), 70-74.
Lala R (2022) The Case for Decolonising the Dental Curricula in the UK [Special issue of Community Dental Health, to be disseminated at the ‘Power in Dentistry’ International Association for Dental Research symposium, July 2022, China]. Community Dental Health, 39(2), 143-148.
Lala R, Baker SR & Muirhead VE (2021) A critical analysis of underrepresentation of racialised minorities in the UK dental workforce. Community Dental Health, 38(2), 142-149.
Lala R, Gibson BJ & Jamieson LM (2021) The relevance of power in dentistry. JDR Clinical & Translational Research, 6(4), 458-459. View this article in WRRO
Lala R & Thompson W (2020) 'An equal world is an enabled world': Equality in the dental profession. BDJ In Practice, 33(2), 17-19.
Donaldson K, Asuni A & Lala R (2020) My specialty: Part three. BDJ Student, 27(1), 28-29.
Lala R & Jones K (2019) The use of the NICE ten step model to conduct an oral health needs assessment in South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw. Community Dental Health, 36(1), 5-8.
Lala R, Csikar J, Douglas G & Muarry J (2017) Factors that influence delivery of tobacco cessation support in general dental practice: a narrative review. Journal of Public Health Dentistry, 77(1), 47-53.
Doughty J, Lala R & Marshman Z (2016) The dental public health implications of cosmetic dentistry: a scoping review of the literature. Community Dental Health , 33(3), 218-224. View this article in WRRO
Lala R, Wood D & Baker S (2013) Validity of the UKCAT in applicant selection and predicting exam performance in UK dental students.. J Dent Educ, 77(9), 1159-1170.
Soldani FA, Lamont T, Jones K, Young L, Walsh T, Lala R & Clarkson JE () One-to-one oral hygiene advice provided in a dental setting for oral health. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2018(10).
Lala R, Harwood C, Eapen Simon S, Lee A & Jones K () Blood borne viruses – key facts for primary care dental teams. BDJ Team, 5(5).

Chapters

Dyer T, Brocklehurst P, Glenny A-M, Marshman Z, Davies L, Richards D, Newton T, Godson J, Tickle M, Lala R & Robinson PG () Dental auxiliaries for dental care In Dyer T (Ed.) John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Grants

Wellcome Trust Early Career Award, (PI, £990,915, 2023-2028) - Sugar-Related Public Health Approaches Analysed Through the Lens of Racial Capitalism

Education and Research Innovation Committee (ERIC) - NHS Health Education England, Yorkshire and Humber, (PI, £10,000, 2017-2018) - The management of dental care of people living with blood-borne viruses in general dental practice

Women Academic Returners Programme (WARP) award - University of Sheffield, (PI, £10,000, 2018-2020) - The Great British Smile: An institutional ethnography of power in cosmetic dentistry

NHS Health Education England, East Midlands - Open competition funding for PhD as part of Academic Clinical Lecturer Training Post, 2013-2020 – extended due to parental leave

Teaching interests: My teaching interests include decolonial work and inclusive teaching practice. I led on decolonial work on the Master in Dental Public Health. I arrange learning on race, equality and decolonial work in public health at NHS England.

Teaching activities: I facilitate undergraduate tutorials in clinical governance and ethics and teach on the Master in Dental Public Health course.

Professional activities and memberships

Regional Dental Epidemiology Coordinator (East Midlands) – coordinating national dental surveys in a wide range of settings such as schools and care homes

Member of Dental Quality Improvement Group (East Midlands and East of England) — leading an audit on patient and public participation in dental commissioning

Peer reviewer for dental, public health and education journals such as Community Dental Health, Journal of Dental Education, British Dental Journal