Professor Chris Lynch commences term as Dean of the Faculty of Dentistry RCSI

Professor Chris Lynch has been installed as Dean of the Faculty of Dentistry at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. Professor Lynch is the twentieth Dean of the Faculty, and he will serve a term of 3 years.

Professor Chris Lynch is Professor & Consultant in Restorative Dentistry at the Cork University Dental School & Hospital/ University College Cork. He has previously served as Vice Dean of the Faculty Dentistry (2019 – 2021). Since 2011, Professor Lynch serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Dentistry, one of the leading international dental journals (current impact factor: 4.991).

Professor Lynch was awarded a Senior Doctorate in Dentistry, by assessment, from Cardiff University in 2019. He was awarded a Principal Fellowship from the Higher Education Academy UK in 2019. Following a competitive process, Chris was awarded one of Ireland’s inaugural National Learning & Teaching Research Fellowships in 2020 (Chris was one of 5 individuals recognised at this time, and the only awardee outside the greater Dublin area).

Professor Lynch graduated in dentistry from UCC (first place in class) in 1999. He successfully completed Consultant training in Restorative Dentistry at Cork and was then appointed a Senior Lecturer & Consultant at Cardiff University in 2006. At Cardiff, he progressed (via promotion) to a Readership in 2013, and a Personal Chair (Restorative Dentistry & Dental Education) in 2015. In 2017, Professor Lynch took up his current position of Professor & Consultant of Restorative Dentistry at University College Cork.

Professor Lynch has published over 200 papers in peer-reviewed journals as well as a textbook on “Successful posterior composites” (one of the first textbooks in this area). With a PhD in mineralised tissue biology, Professor Lynch has focussed substantially on clinical dental education and the interface with clinical dental practice. Important examples include his work on the teaching of minimally invasive dentistry (e.g. placement of posterior composites) and developing a substantial evidence base to support community-based clinical teaching (“outreach teaching”) in dentistry.

The Faculty of Dentistry of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) was founded in 1963 with the core mission of advancing the science, art and practice of dentistry by the promotion of education, study and research. It is one of the Surgical Postgraduate Faculties at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and its focus is on the post-qualification education and training of dentists in Ireland and overseas.