Rate My Professor Denise Higgins

Dr. Denise Higgins is a Lecturer in Oral Health and Program Convenor for the Bachelor of Oral Health Therapy Program in the School of Health Sciences, College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing at the University of Newcastle, Australia. She holds a PhD from the University of Newcastle, where her thesis examined the implementation of instructional design for dental and oral health simulation-based learning to support psychomotor skill acquisition through conceptual frameworks and educational theories. The findings and artefacts from her doctoral research have been integrated into the university's Bachelor of Oral Health Therapy curriculum. As Simulation Coordinator, Dr. Higgins has led transformative innovations in oral health education. In 2018, she developed the pioneering Virtual Anesthesia program, utilizing Oculus VR headsets to enable students to practice dental injections in simulated clinics with features like anatomical nerve visualization, capillary scaling, and real-time volume feedback. She also invented unique simulator model mouths crafted from synthetic skin mimicking human oral lining, allowing safe replication of injection techniques. These advancements replaced the risky apprenticeship model, markedly improving student confidence and establishing the University of Newcastle as a frontrunner in oral health simulation training.