Griffith University Emeritus Professor Newell Johnson has been awarded with Honorary Life Membership of the International Association of Oral Pathologists.
Professor Johnson, CMG, FMedSci,wasconferred as a distinguished oral pathologist at the Association’s International Congress in Chennai, India, for his ‘profound and sustained contributions of international significance to the field of oral pathology and medicine’.
Professor Johnson is a member of Griffith’s Menzies Health Institute Queenslandand was the Foundation Dean of Griffith University’s School of Dentistry and Oral Health.
He is also a former Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Oral Cancer and Pre-cancer, King’s College London, and Nuffield Research Professor of Dental Sciences, Royal College of Surgeons of England.
“I am delighted that my life passion has been given such valuable recognition by society and also that it is appreciated by my peers,” says Professor Johnson. “I have been privileged to have had the opportunity to make a contribution to understanding and preventing disease in almost every continent.”
Head and neck cancer research
His research focuses on head and neck cancers and on the oral manifestations of HIV/AIDS. Professor Johnson has studied epidemiology, risk factors and interventions, clinical and laboratory diagnostic methods, cellular and molecular markers of risk, and prognosis for thesediseases.
He has published extensively and is an author/editor of several books in the field, notably Textbook of Oral Cancer with Jatin Shah and Oral Diseases in the Tropics, recently revised and republished this month.
Professor Johnson leads a team from Griffith University, with University of Queensland and University of Adelaide colleagues, on National Health and Medical Research Council funded work in the Northern Peninsula Area of Cape York, investigating the cost-effectiveness of measures to prevent dental caries in children who live in remote locations.