Associate Professor Nicky Kilpatrick has been a specialist paediatric dentist for over 20 years and completed her training, including her PhD, in the United Kingdom.  She has a particular interest in the impact of oral health on children with additional medical, intellectual and oral/craniofacial conditions.

As Clinical Lead of the Cleft Program in the Plastic and Maxillofacial unit, Nicky leads a multidisciplinary team of clinicians providing high quality clinical care for children born with clefts of the lip and palate at the RCH. She remains research active, leading several projects bringing together a wide range of expertise from basic science and genetics to clinical and public health research to improve understanding of both the cause and effects of orofacial clefting She is a member of the American Cleft Palate Association and the Craniofacial Society of Great Britain and Ireland and is currently involved in establishing an international consortium to improve understanding of and outcomes for infants born with Robin Sequence.

Education

BDS: 1985 University of Birmingham

PhD: 1993 University of Newcastle upon Tyne

FDS RCPS: 1989 Royal College of Physician and Surgeons Glasgow

FRACDS (Paeds): 2007 Royal Australasian College of Dental Surgeons

Current Appointments

Clinical Lead, Cleft Program - Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne

Senior Research Fellow - Murdoch Children’s Research Institute

Associate Professor - Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne