Rate My Professor Ernie Jennings

Ernie Jennings serves as Associate Professor and Academic Lead for Anatomy and Pathology at James Cook University in the College of Medicine and Dentistry. He completed his undergraduate and graduate studies, culminating in a PhD awarded in 1999, at University College London in the United Kingdom. Following his doctoral research, Jennings held post-doctoral positions at the University of Sydney from 1999 to 2003 and at the University of Melbourne from 2003 to 2010, during which he received a Wellcome Trust Prize Travelling Fellowship. He accepted an academic position at James Cook University in 2011, where he has since contributed to teaching, research, and supervision in dentistry and related fields.

Jennings' research interests center on the mechanisms of pain, excitability of neurons, ion channels, and receptors, particularly pain conditions originating in the head such as migraine, cluster headaches, and temporomandibular disorders. His laboratory employs patch-clamp electrophysiology, protein expression assays, and behavioral studies to investigate these areas, with a focus on trigeminal nerve-related pain. He has authored or co-authored numerous publications, including 'Neurobiology of temporomandibular joint pain: therapeutic implications' (2012), 'Peripheral hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated channels contribute to inflammation-induced hypersensitivity of the rat temporomandibular joint' (2013), 'Articaine in dentistry: an overview of the evidence and meta-analysis of the latest randomised controlled trials on articaine safety and efficacy compared to lidocaine for routine dental treatment' (2021), 'Australian dental school academics' perceptions of gerodontology education in the undergraduate curriculum' (2023), and 'Stakeholder perceptions of gerodontology education for final year Australian dental school curricula' (2024). Jennings coordinates and lectures in dentistry courses such as Dental Science 1 and 2, Simulated Clinical Dentistry 1 and 2, Dentistry Honours Part 1 and 2, and Advanced Anatomy by Dissection. He supervises current and completed postgraduate students on topics including articaine safety and efficacy, gerodontology education, periodontal regenerative treatment using CBCT data, and immunomodulatory effects of implant coatings.