Dr Sonia Nath

Dr Nath is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Adelaide Dental School at the University of Adelaide, working at the Australian Research Centre for Population Oral Health and the Indigenous Oral Health Unit. She completed her Bachelor of Dental Surgery and her Master of Dental Surgery (Periodontology). She completed her PhD in oral microbiome research at the Adelaide Dental School after receiving the Australian Government Research Training Programme Scholarship. Dr Nath is a scientist with a track record in health technologies and is leading innovative research in the emerging field of oral microbiome and microbial gene technology, a specialist area within oral microbiology. Dr Nath’s PhD research focused on the Oral Microbiome Transplantation (OMT). She is continuing work on OMT (a novel therapy for transferring bacteria from a healthy donor to a recipient with oral disease) and utilising this technology for treating and preventing dental caries and periodontal disease. Additionally, she is using bioinformatics to create a “super donor assessment tool” for the selection of healthy donors. She plans to start clinical trials using OM in 2026 and use this technology to improve the oral health of the Indigenous and socioeconomically disadvantaged populations. Dr Nath is committed to understanding the lifestyle and environmental factors that could influence the oral microbiome. She is dedicated to enhancing oral health for underserved populations. Dr Nath has 10 years of experience in fieldwork and data collection. She has 5 years of experience engaging with Indigenous communities through culturally sensitive research practices. She led a project providing culturally safe dental care to over 400 Indigenous participants, ensuring that all clinical examinations and data collection were conducted respectfully in regional and remote South Australia.As an early-career researcher, she has received over $ 70,000 in funding as Principal Investigator to continue her research. Dr Nath has published more than 40 peer-reviewed articles with over 700 citations, an h-index of 15, and an i10-index of 22 (as of 2025, Google Scholar). She serves as an editorial board member for BMC Oral Health. She was awarded the 2025 Derek Frewin Early Career Researcher Award. Additionally, Dr Nath won the most prestigious research award, the Hatton Award (2024) by the International Association of Dental Research (IADR), placing her among the best dental researchers for 2024. She was also awarded the IADR ANZ Division Colgate Competition Award (2023). She has delivered keynote presentations at prestigious forums, including the Dental Hygienist Association of Australia Symposium (2023) and the International Association of Dental Research Conference (2024).