Dr John Skinner, PhD, MPH, BA(Hons), Dip Ed, BA

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Dr John Skinner is Acting Research Director and Senior Research Fellow, The Poche Centre for Indigenous Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney

For over a decade Dr Skinner worked in a variety of public health policy and management roles with the NSW Ministry of Health. In 2014 John was appointed as the Director of the Centre for Oral Health Strategy NSW, where he led the development and implementation of Oral Health 2020 and the first Aboriginal Oral Health Strategic Plan for NSW. John is nationally recognised for his work in public oral health research, engagement, policy and practice.

Dr Skinner leads the Poche Centre research team implementing an evidence-based fluoride varnish program for children using Aboriginal dental assistants in NSW and advises on its scale-up nationally. John, with Professor Tom Calma AO, organised and led two National Fluoride Varnish Workshops in 2018 and 2020 aiming encourage greater scale-up of school-based fluoride varnish programs nationally. John was Chair of the National Oral Health Monitoring Group from 2017 to 2018 and a member of the oral health expert group convened by the Australian Health Policy Collaboration to develop the first Oral Health Tracker Report in 2018. He was also chair of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Dental Information Advisory Committee.

John has a particular interest in research co-designed and co-implemented with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, as well as improving their access to services and scalable research outcomes. This includes the development of co-designed service delivery models, prevention initiatives and bespoke workforce programs.

Dr Skinner is a member of the British Association for the Study of Community Dentistry and the European Association of Public Health Dentistry. John is also an Honorary Associate Professor, Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences, Macquarie University. Dr Skinner is an Executive member of the Aboriginal Chronic Conditions Network at the Agency for Clinical Innovation in NSW, member of the Charles Perkins Centre Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Theme, and Member of the Centre for Global Indigenous Futures based at Macquarie University. He is an affiliate of the Sydney Policy Lab, Matilda Centre and Sydney Children and Families Institute.