Associate Professor Julie Satur

Doctor of Philosophy, Deakin University, 2003, Master Health Science (Health Promotion and Education) Deakin University 1998, Graduate Diploma in Health Education , Deakin University, 1994, Diploma of Applied Science (Dental Therapy) Melbourne 1977

Associate Professor Julie Satur has an international reputation for leading research and education in the oral health therapy field with a current appointment as an Associate Professor at the Melbourne Dental School and senior researcher with the Oral Health CRC.  In this role she leads the Bachelor of Oral Health program and Oral Health Therapy research, and is active in the health promotion and oral health workforce research areas. The majority of her career has been spent in the delivery, management and education sector surrounding public oral health services incorporating a strong health promotion and public health interest and activity. Her post graduate study was in health promotion and her PhD research examined public health policy around the regulation of dental practice and its impact on access to dental services. 

She is a registered dental practitioner, and having been a clinician for over thirty years with significant experience in the delivery of and evaluation of services and in more recent years, involvement in policy making and strategic planning at both a state and a national level. As examples she was a member of the team who developed the National Oral Health Plan in 2004-14 and is currently involved in developing Australia’s National Oral Health Promotion Plan, has been an advisor to the US federal government on oral health workforce development, a consultant to the Fiji School of Medicine and is Chair of the Australia-Pacific Child Oral Health Taskforce. Her current research centres on oral health workforce, oral health promotion for high-risk groups, evidence for oral health promotion, and early childhood oral health.

She has a long history of involvement in the dental therapy professional associations, having held formal leadership roles at both state and national level and has strong networks in both the oral health professions and in broader public health advocacy contexts as well as representative roles with Health Workforce Australia. She has been invited to participate on several state and national advisory committees on the areas of workforce, research and health promotion, and is active in the College of Oral Health Academics.  She is recognised for leadership in her field and for her altruistic public health philosophy.