Professor Linda Slack-Smith is a social epidemiologist using qualitative, quantitative and translation approaches (including policy) in her research. Her work has focused on disparities in oral health, child health, older adult health and Aboriginal health and she is a Professor in the School of Population and Global Health at the University of Western Australia. Linda has held international, national, university, government board and community leadership roles in various organisations.

Internationally, she is Editor Emerita of the journal Gerodontology, representing 4 major international geriatric dentistry societies. She was the past president of the Geriatric Oral Health Research Group of the International Association for Dental Research (IADR), sat on the international Council for IADR 2014-2017, and was the IADR ANZ Division President 2015-2017. Additionally, she Co-Chaired the 2021 World Congress of Epidemiology. She leads a Worldwide Universities Network Collaboration in Oral Health and is a partner in another collaboration in family and domestic violence. She is an executive and founding member of the Australian-based Network for Integrated Oral Health. Linda was also a recent President of the Australasian Epidemiological Association and was Scientific Committee Chair for the Public Health Congress in Hobart in 2015. She was a Lead Applicant on an NHMRC Indigenous Capacity Building Grant ($2.5million) and WA Lead on the APHCRI Centre for Research Excellence in Oral Health ($2.5million), focusing on Aboriginal and older adult oral health. Linda was awarded the national Mentoring Award for the Australasian Epidemiological Association in 2019, the 2020 Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Authority, and the 2024 IADR Distinguished Scientist award in Geriatric Oral Research. With her research collaborators and team, she has undertaken a substantial research program investigating social public health issues, oral health issues in disadvantaged groups and Indigenous health. She has been a chief investigator on over $6.9 million of competitive grants. She was co-recipient and senior author of the international Giddon Award for Distinguished Research in the Behavioural Sciences (International Association for Dental Research) awarded in London in 2018 with co-authors: Durey A, McAullay D, Gibson B, Slack-Smith L and again in 2024 with co-authors Durey A and Naylor N.