Brianna Poirier

Brianna Poirier

Adelaide Dental School

Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD - email supervisor to discuss availability.

Dr Brianna Poirier currently works as a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow with the Indigenous Oral Health Unit at the University of Adelaide. Brianna is a non-Indigenous settler Canadian and a respectful guest on Kaurna Country.

As an active researcher in oral health, Brianna works in reciprocal relation with colleagues across Communities, organisations, and universities to critically analyse pathways related to the ‘isms’ (racism, neoliberalism, setter colonialism) that largely shape health outcomes in colonial Australia and Canada. This work requires individual and collective reflexivity to decolonise practices, approaches to research, and creating spaces for programs within the inherently powerful structures we operate within when doing research. Brianna’s academic background is in public health, food sovereignty, nutrition, and the impact of sociopolitical ideologies on oral health. Over the past 7 years, Brianna has had the honour of partnering and working alongside First Nations Communities in Canada and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities in Australia.

Having just conferred her PhD (entitled: "'Our bodies aren't meant to live the white fella's way': Navigating Indigenous Oral Health in Neoliberal Australia”) in 2023, Brianna is an emerging early career researcher with over 40 peer reviewed publications and $2.5 million in research funding related to anti-racism in dentistry and commercial determinants of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health (MRFF & NHMRC). Brianna publishes works related to these areas, with an overarching aim of disrupting ‘status quo’ approaches to research and fostering environments for decolonial research.

Brianna currently serves as a co-editor for the Australia New Zealand Journal of Public Health, and the Turtle Island Journal of Indigenous Health. Brianna has taught ‘Indigenous Peoples and the Environment,’ ‘Foundations of Medicine,’ and ‘Health and Illness in a Population’ and is currently involved in the development of an anti-racist training for health practitioners. Brianna supervises Honours, Masters, and PhD students across the Adelaide Dental School, Adelaide Medical School, and the School of Public Health.

Brianna is currently facilitating tutorials for Foundations of Medicine and Health and Illness in a Population. Previously, Brianna has served as a casual lecturer for Indigenous Peoples and the Environment at the University of Adelaide and a Teaching Assistant for Introduction to Nutrition, Advanced Nutrition, and Infant and Child Development at the University of Guelph.

  • Current Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)
    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2025 Principal Supervisor Enhancing Accreditation Standards and Curriculum to Progress an Anti-Racist Agenda within Australia’s Dental Education and Training Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Tashayini Thambyrajah
    2025 Co-Supervisor Exploring the Interplay of Food Insecurity and Dental Caries Among Indigenous Australian Children Master of Philosophy (Dentistry) Master Full Time Dr Wajeeha Zahid
    2023 Co-Supervisor Situating place-based social care interventions in the Australian healthcare system: lessons and limitations Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Kate Emily Neadley

  • Other Supervision Activities
    Date Role Research Topic Location Program Supervision Type Student Load Student Name
    2023 - ongoing Co-Supervisor Effect of Sleep on Oral Health University of Adelaide - Honours Full Time Jainy Shah
    2023 - ongoing Co-Supervisor Tobacco Policy Analysis & Stakeholder Perspectives on Policy Gaps University of Adelaide - Master - Priyanka Multani
    2023 - ongoing Principal Supervisor Implications of the uptake of Silver Fluoride - dental school curriculum & practitioner perspective University of Adelaide - Honours - Samantha Tang
    2023 - ongoing Co-Supervisor Considerations of Oral Health in Chronic Disease Management among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in South Australia University of Adelaide - Honours Part Time Eda So
    2022 - ongoing Co-Supervisor Use of local anaesthesia with general anaesthesia in paediatric dentistry University of Adelaide - Honours Part Time Emily Xin Yi Ting
    2022 - ongoing Principal Supervisor Qualitative exploration of the experience of pain among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples University of Adelaide - Honours Part Time Annika Ramesh
    2022 - ongoing Co-Supervisor The impact of paediatric head and neck malignancy globally and the prevalence in South Australia over the past decade The University of Adelaide - Honours Part Time John Beji Daniel
    2022 - ongoing Co-Supervisor The relationship between kidney disease and oral health among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples University of Adelaide - Master Full Time Isaac He
    2021 - ongoing Co-Supervisor Non-traumatic paediatric dental presentations to emergency departments University of Adelaide, Women's and Children's Hospital - Honours Full Time Ali Musa

  • Memberships
    Date Role Membership Country
    2021 - ongoing Member World Public Health Nutrition Association United Kingdom
    2021 - ongoing Member International Association for Dental Research United States
    2021 - ongoing Representative Public Health Association of Australia Australia
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