Faculty - Oral Health in Older Adults

Meet our Editorial Panel who are the key opinion leaders in the fields of Gerodontology and Geriatric Medicine. This expert panel brings you an independent educational hub where you can get resources on the latest advancements in research and treatment policies/guidelines for oral healthcare in older adults.

Dr. Barbara Janssens specialist in Oral Health in Older Adults

Prof. Barbara Janssens

Assistant Professor of Gerodontology at Ghent University, Belgium

Barbara Janssens is an assistant professor of Gerodontology at Ghent University (Belgium) and coordinator of Gerodent, a preventive and curative oral healthcare programme for nursing homes in Belgium. In addition, she is still working as a general dentist. She obtained her degree in dentistry in 2005 and her Phd in 2017 at Ghent University. Her research interests are oral health promotion long-term care facilities for older adults, oral health services for older adults and improving oral health of home-dwelling elderly through better interprofessional collaboration. She has published several scientific A1 papers and book chapters and is member of the editorial board of Gerodontology. In 2015, she won the Colgate research award of the European College of Gerodontology (ECG). She is the past co-president of the European Association of Dental Public health (EADPH), chair of the young members committee at ECG, Co-chair of the special interest group on Gerodontology at EADPH, member of the research consortium GRAY at UGhent and board member of BENECOMO, the Belgian-Dutch research consortium on oral care for older adults.

Prof Anastassia Kossioni

Prof. Anastassia E. Kossioni

Professor of Gerodontology in the School of Dentistry, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA), Greece

Prof. Anastassia E. Kossioni, DDS, PGCeODL, MSc, PhD is Professor of Gerodontology in the Dental School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) in Greece. She received her DDS and PhD from the NKUA, her MSc in Gerodontology from the Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry (University of London, UK), and her Certificate in Open and Distance Learning from the Hellenic Open University.
She has a long teaching experience in Gerodontology for dentists and other health care professionals nationally and internationally. Her research activity is focused on the association of oral with general health in older people, on oral frailty and on gerodontology education for dentists and other healthcare professionals.
She is currently Honorary Secretary and Chair of the Education Committee of the European College of Gerodontology (ECG), co-Chair of the Special Interest Group in Gerodontology of the European Geriatric Medicine Society (EuGMS) and Gerodontology coordinator in the EU funded COST Action CA21122 “PROmoting GeRiAtric Medicine IN countries where it is still eMerGing (PROGRAMMING)”.

Professor Frauke Müller specialist in Oral Health in Older Adults

Prof. Frauke Müller

Professor and Chair for Gerodontology and Removable Prosthodontics at the University Clinics of Dental Medicine at the University of Geneva, Switzerland

Frauke Müller is professor and chair for Gerodontology and Removable Prosthodontics at the University Clinics of Dental Medicine at the University of Geneva, Switzerland. She received her dental degrees in Bonn, Germany and spend several years at the London Hospital Medical College, England. Frauke Müller has been President of various learned Societies, such as the European College of Gerodontology, the Geriatric Oral Research Group and the Prosthodontics Group of the IADR, the Swiss Society for Gerodontology and Special Care Dentistry. From 2018 to 2022 she served as President of the University Clinics of Dental Medicine at the University of Geneva. She co-edited the ITI Treatment Guide no 9 on “Implant therapy in the Geriatric Patient” and the 1st Edition of the textbook “Oral Healthcare and The Frail Elder”. She is Associate Editor of the Journal of Oral Rehabilitation and Gerodontology, and serves on the editorial review board of several other Journals. Frauke Müller is honorary member of the European College of Gerodontology, the British Society for the Study of Prosthetic Dentistry and the International Team of Implantology (ITI). In 2013 she was awarded the IADR Distinguished Scientist Award in Geriatric Oral Research, in 2019 an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Thessaloniki. Her research activity is mainly related to gerodontology, oral function as well as complete and implant prosthodontics.

Professor Mirko Petrovic specialist in Oral Health in Older Adults

Prof. Mirko Petrovic

Tenured Senior Full Professor of Geriatrics and Chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine and Paediatrics at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent University, Belgium

Mirko PetrovicMD, PhD is a tenured senior full professor of geriatrics and chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine and Paediatrics at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent University, and the lead of the research unit “Quality of drug utilization in older persons”.

By November 2022, he authored of 27 book chapters, 337 peer-reviewed publications, co-author and co-editor of books, supervisor of 70 master theses and 12 PhD theses (of which 10 defended). His work has been presented 145 times at international and 208 times and national congresses and conferences.

He participated as a member of the consortium and a co-principal investigator in two European Commission projects: FP7 HEALTH-2011 MID_FRAIL study (A randomized clinical trial to evaluate the effectiveness of a Multi-modal Intervention in older people with type 2 Diabetes on FRAILty and quality of life’) and FP7-HEALTH-2012 SENATOR study (Development and clinical trials of a new Software ENgine for the Assessment & optimization of drug and non-drug Therapy in Older peRsons).  He currently participates as a member of the consortium and a co-principal investigator in the H2020 AFFIRMO study (Atrial Fibrillation integrated approach in FraIl, multimoRbid and polyMedicated Older people) and the Health Research Board of Ireland project ‘Assessment of drug Treatment in Elderly hospitalized patients: the OPTIMATE study’ and as a co-supervisor in the Ghent University Industrial Research Fund Advanced-project ‘High drug-loaded pellets for dysphagia and sustained release: DYSPEL’.

He is the co-chairman of the research alliance group ‘Research in Geriatrics and Gerontology- REGG’ of the Ghent University (UGent) and the Free University of Brussels (VUB). He is also a member of  the Belgian Royal Academy of Medicine, the EMA (European Medicine Agency) Geriatric Expert Group and a member of the following scientific societies: Belgian Society for Gerontology and Geriatrics, Dutch Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Biopharmacy, European Academy for Medicine of Ageing (EAMA) network, European Geriatric Medicine Society (EuGMS) in the capacity of the President-elect and International Association for Gerontology and Geriatrics-IAGG. He serves as member of the editorial board and a reviewer of several international peer-reviewed journals.

Professor Roller-Wirnsberger specialist in Oral Health in Older Adults

Prof. Regina Roller-Wirnsberger

Full professor of geriatric medicine at the Medical University of Graz (MUG), Austria
Leader of the research unit of aging and old age medicine at MUG, Austria

Prof. Regina Roller-Wirnsberger MD, MME is full professor of geriatric medicine at the Medical University of Graz (MUG) and leader of the research unit of aging and old age medicine at MUG. She is member of boards of the Austrian Society of Geriatrics and Gerontology (ÖGGG), EUGMS, EAMA and RSCN as well as actively involved in many ongoing projects in the health region Styria (Austria) and beyond in an international context.
Since 2005 she has been particularly involved in academic research programs in the field of geriatric medicine and public health for older adults. Furthermore she is responsible for curricular development at MUG for clinical education in undergraduate curriculum.
Her research focus is on chronic complex care management, including all aspects of secondary and tertiary prevention for ageing well.

Professor Martin Schimmel specialist in Oral Health in Older Adults

Prof. Martin Schimmel

Chairman of the Department of Reconstructive Dentistry and Gerodontology at the School of Dental Medicine of the University of Bern, Switzerland

Prof. Dr. med. dent. Martin Schimmel, MAS Oral Biol
Swiss Federal Specialist in Reconstructive Dentistry SSO

Martin Schimmel is chairman of the Department of Reconstructive Dentistry and Gerodontology at the School of Dental Medicine of the University of Bern, Switzerland (ZMK Bern). Dr. Schimmel obtained his undergraduate dental degree and the academic degree “Dr. med. dent.” from the University of Mainz, Germany. The University of Geneva (Switzerland) awarded his postgraduate degrees Privat-Docent and MAS Oral Biol. He graduated as Swiss federal specialist for reconstructive dentistry SSO and founded Orophys LLC as a spin-off from the University of Bern. Martin received several academic awards including and was recently awarded with the 2022 IADR Distinguished Scientist Award in Geriatric Oral Research. Professor Schimmel serves as associate editor for Gerodontology, is member of the editorial board of the Journal of Oral Rehabilitation, Clinical Oral Implants Research, Forum Implantologicum and is member of the review boards of the International Journal of Prosthodontics, as well as the Journal of Dentistry (Digital Section). He is past president of the IADR Geriatric Oral Research Group (IADR GORG), past president and treasurer of the European College of Gerodontology (ECG), council member of the Gerodontology Association (GA) and president of the Swiss Society of Gerodontology and Special Care Dentistry (SSGS). His professional career comprises wide clinical experience in private practice, university settings and geriatric hospitals. His academic interests include Gerodontology, orofacial hypofunction, CAD / CAM in prosthodontics, and implantology.

Professor Inger Wårdh specialist in Oral Health in Older Adults

Assoc Prof. Inger Wårdh

Head of the Gerodontic Section in the Department of Dental Medicine at Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
Researcher at the Academic Centre for Geriatric Dentistry (ACT) at Stockholm, Sweden

Inger Wårdh is a specialist dentist in Orofacial Medicine and Associate Professor in Gerodontics. She has in many years been Head of the Gerodontic Section in the Department of Dental Medicine at Karolinska Institutet and a researcher at the Academic Centre for Geriatric dentistry (ACT) at Stockholm, Sweden. She is also a guest researcher at Karlstad University, Sweden with focus on dental hygienists and a well known profile concerning oral and dental care for older and disabled persons.

She has supervised several PhD students and authored/co-authored multiple international publications on a wide range of topics involving oral care in the geriatric and special needs population, from the provision of oral care in nursing homes to the impact of tooth loss on the rate of cognitive decline in the elderly.

Further on, she has a long experience of education in geriatric dentistry, for different professions at different levels and is active both national and international in professional associations in this area of knowledge.