Kakuhiro Fukai, D.D.S., Ph.D., is director of the Fukai Institute of Health Science (Japan), visiting professor at Kanagawa Dental University, and visiting researcher at Japan’s National Institute of Public Health. He also serves as chair of FDI’s Oral Health for Ageing Population Task Team (2015-2019, 2021-2024). In addition, he has served as director of Japan Dental Association and executive director of the 8020 Promotion Foundation (2013-2019). He has also maintained a private dental practice for the past thirty years.
Performing all of these roles simultaneously has provided him with practical experience and academic expertise at both the global and local level and in all stages of the evidence-policy-practice-evaluation cycle. His research activities have focused on global oral health, the link between oral and systemic health, and healthy longevity. He has published over 300 research articles and 50 books on oral health promotion. Representative of his work is a long-term cohort study of Japanese community residents’ oral health and longevity initiated in 1987, which remains ongoing. He also edited The Current Evidence of Dental Care and Oral Health for Achieving Healthy Longevity in an Aging Society (Japan Dental Association, 2015), the most thorough and globally comprehensive review of its kind. His social contributions also include annual visits to Nepal for the past thirty years to conduct community health and oral health promotion activities with the Association of Dental Cooperation in Nepal, of which he currently serves as president.

Gerry McKenna is a specialist in Restorative Dentistry and Prosthodontics working as a Consultant in the Belfast NHS Health and Social Care Trust. His clinical duties are based in the Centre for Dentistry, Queens University Belfast where he provides clinical supervision and teaching for dental undergraduates. He is a Senior Lecturer based within the Centre for Public Health and a member of the Health Services Research Group.

His research is centered on optimizing treatment options for older patients which positively impact their dental and overall health. This research has been awarded a number of prestigious awards including the IADR Hatton Award. His current position combines research, clinical teaching and specialist patient care.

He is the current President of the Irish Division of the International Association for Dental Research (IADR) and immediate past President of the European College of Gerodontology (ECG).

Hirohiko Hirano, Ph.D. in Medical Science, D.D.S. is Director of Dental and Oral Surgery & Director of Research Team for Promoting Independence and Mental Health, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology. He has been working as a dentist in an acute-care hospital for 30 years providing dental care to the older people. He has also been involved in research, his interests include oral functions of the elderly, swallowing functions, and providing smooth dental care to people with dementia.