Dr Martha Paisi

Martha Paisi is the Research Lead at Peninsula Dental Social Enterprise and a Senior Research Fellow in Public Health at the University of Plymouth’s School of Nursing and Midwifery. She also holds an honorary academic contract with the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities and currently leads the multidisciplinary Southwest Oral Health Inclusion Group (https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/research/southwest-inclusion-oral-health-research-group). Martha is a strong advocate of inclusive and multidisciplinary health services and interventions.

Martha’s research focuses on health equity and the improvement of care for individuals with multiple complex and intersecting needs. She has served as Principal Investigator or Co-Investigator on several funded projects aimed at improving oral health and access to dental services for vulnerable and marginalised populations. These include people experiencing severe and multiple disadvantage (such as homelessness, repeat offending, and substance or alcohol misuse) as well as asylum seekers and refugees, care-experienced children and care leavers, and autistic children and young people.

She has extensive experience conducting and overseeing systematic and scoping reviews, mixed-methods studies, and the collection and analysis of both primary and secondary data. Her inclusive research with marginalised populations aims to influence policy and practice, and has contributed to the co-development of innovative, nationally recognised dental care pathways tailored to the needs of vulnerable groups.