New Deputy Chief Dental Officers England

Interim Chief Dental Officer England, Jason Wong, is delighted to announce that Professor Nick Barker and Mr Shabir Shivji have been appointed as our two new deputy chief dental officers. 

Professor Nick Barker qualified as a General Dental Practitioner in 1990 and is a Principal Dentist in Colchester. He has been a Local Dental Network Chair in Essex since 2013, providing clinically-led commissioning of primary and secondary care dental services across the county. He is a Professor of Oral Health Sciences at University of Essex and programme lead in the MSc in Periodontology for dentists and MSc in Advanced Periodontal Practice for hygienists and therapists. He has been a senior clinical policy advisor to the Chief Dental Officer since July 2023, leading on work including the medicines exemptions programme , dental reform and medico-legal matters. Nick joins us substantively in the Deputy Chief Dental Officer role.

Mr Shabir Shivji joins the Office of the Chief Dental Officer on a fixed term basis until March 2024. Shab is an NHS associate dentist in Kent, having qualified from Sheffield University in 1995. Shab has worked as part of NHS England since 2016 when he took the role of NHS England Dental Clinical Advisor. Since then he has fulfilled a number of roles including Senior Dental Advisor to CVD Prevention in General Dental Practice Programme, Regional Dental Advisor for the Workforce, Training and Education Directorate, National Health and Justice Dental Advisor.  and since 2022 Shab has been a CORE20PLUS5 Ambassador, promoting the importance of reducing healthcare inequalities across the healthcare system.

Nick and Shab will work alongside Jason Wong, Interim Chief Dental Officer England, in collaboration with local and regional teams to deliver improved outcomes for patients; continuing the necessary work to recover capacity and capability of our NHS dental care services and maintaining a focus on dental system and contract reform.

The deputy chief dental officer roles were open to internal applications and were appointed following an internal interview process.