Jacqui Elsden MSc FBADN was inaugurated as British Association of Dental Nurses (BADN) President 2019-2021 at the Opening Ceremony of the National Dental Nursing Conference in Oxford on 1 November.

Jacqui qualified at King's College Hospital Dental School in 1983 as a dental nurse, obtaining both the Hospital Qualification in Dental Nursing and the NEBDN National Certificate, and continued as a Senior Dental Nurse at King's until 1984. Jacqui continued to work in general practice until 1988 when she took a three-year break to start a family, then continued in general practice until 2004.

figure 1

Since 2004, Jacqui has been employed by the postgraduate education and training arm of the NHS, formerly the Kent, Surrey and Sussex Deanery, now known as Health Education England London, Kent Surrey & Sussex (HEE LKSS). During this period, she obtained awards in Vocational Assessment, Internal Quality Assurance, Teaching and Mentoring together with Certificates in Practice Appraisal and Radiography. Jacqui has been an NEBDN examiner and was Chair of NEBDN's QA committee from 2012-2017. Jacqui is a Professional Advisor for the GDC's Registration Appeals Committee.

Jacqui has an interest in research and has presented nationally at the Royal College of Surgeons of England and internationally at the Association of Dental Research in Barcelona and has been published in the dental press. More recently Jacqui obtained an MSc distinction in Advanced and Specialist Healthcare at the University of Kent and was awarded the annual Dissertation prize for the highest achievement.

Jacqui continues her role with HEE LKSS as their Regional DCP Lead for Dental Nurses to commission post registration courses and hands-on training for GDC registered dental nurses across the region. Jacqui's role also includes practice development visits to NHS primary care dental practices, regionally, to facilitate the ongoing development of the NHS workforce.

Jacqui has also recently been interviewed for BDJ Team: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41407-019-0148-9.