About us
Holden Experts is led by Professor Alexander Holden, a clinician and academic with extensive experience in the healthcare arena as a clinical leader, researcher and practitioner.
Professor Alexander Holden
BDS LLM MDPH MComDent PhD MRACDS(DPH) FACLM FCGDent
Professor Alexander Holden is Director and Principal Consultant at Holden Experts.
Passionate about the creation of value, Alexander established Holden Experts as a way to provide guidance and service to the professional healthcare community in order to lead to enhance patient care and business outcomes.
Broad Multi-Sector Experience:
With broad experience as a leader in the private, public and academic sectors, working in both clinical and non-clinical roles, Alexander is able to provide inter-sectoral consultancy and guidance to a wide range of different individuals and organisations. Alexander has worked and maintains practice as a senior executive and board director within large organisations and not-for-profit companies, giving him deep insight into organisational culture and effectiveness as well as corporate and clinical governance.
Leading and Managing for Performance:
Alexander holds a reputation for driving performance and cultivating professional development helping clinical services managers to become leaders. Having extensive experience within large, complex health and academic organisations, identifying opportunities, and cultivating collaborations with is a key strength to Alexander’s work.
Change Management:
Alexander has led extensive reviews of both clinical and non-clinical services, advancing positive organisational restricting and reorganisation. He also has driven change processes collaboratively in a manner which fosters engagement. Adept at identifying key stakeholders and ensuring early buy-in to change strategies which enables enhanced outcomes for service leaders.
Interdisciplinary Clinical Expertise:
Clinically, Alexander is both an expert general dentist and a specialist in public health dentistry; the specialty within oral health which focuses upon the development of population-level health outcomes. Alexander maintains clinical practise within dentistry, providing direct patient care, alongside working as a high-level health strategist, operational executive and researcher. With an extensive knowledge of health law, Alexander is highly skilled in risk identification and mitigation. Alexander has rich experience in providing expert witness testimony in both personal injury and professional negligence litigation matters.
International Researcher:
Alexander’s research activities focus on health professionalism and ethics, with a particular interest in the impacts of professional behaviours and attitudes upon health outcomes. Alexander is able to assist in the development of international collaborations and identification of grant funding opportunities.
Communication and Engagement:
Alexander has a high level of literacy in written communication, with a prolific track record in producing published peer-reviewed research publications, organisational reviews, expert reports and policy.
Award | Institution |
Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) | The University of Sheffield (UK) |
Master of Laws – Medical Law (LLM) | Northumbria University (UK) |
Master of Dental Public Health (MDPH) | The University of Sheffield (UK) |
Fellow of the Australasian College of Legal Medicine (FACLM) by examination | The Australasian College of Legal Medicine (Australia) |
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) | The University of Sydney (Australia) |
Master of Community Dentistry (MComDent) (with distinction) | The University of Otago (New Zealand) |
Diploma of Fellowship of the Faculty of General Dental Practice (FFGDP (UK)) by examination | The Faculty of General Dental Practice UK, Royal College of Surgeons England |
Specialist Membership in Dental Public Health (MRACDS(DPH)) | The Royal Australasian College of Dental Surgeons |
Alexander completed his undergraduate dental degree in Sheffield (UK) and then completed a further four degrees in law, dental public health, community dentistry and research from the UK, Australia and New Zealand. Before moving to Sydney, Alexander worked clinically in private and public practice in the North of England, holding a special interest in conscious sedation and the use of hypnosis in dentistry.
Alexander holds specialist registration with the Dental Board of Australia in Public Health (Community) Dentistry and is internationally recognised for his work on oral health systems, dental ethics and healthcare professionalism. In Australia, he has worked within the private, public and academic sectors and currently holds senior academic and public health positions.
Alexander currently holds a position as the Head of Specialist Services at Sydney Dental Hospital and Oral Health Services where he manages and leads a diverse and integrated portfolio of specialised departments offering cutting-edge care. The departments within the portfolio contain conventional specialist services alongside allied care such as social work.
Alexander holds appointments as a Clinical Professor with the University of Sydney School of Dentistry where he is also the Head of Subject Area for Professional Practice along with other governance roles. Alongside his clinical and academic expertise, Alexander is also a Board Director for the Australasian College of Legal Medicine. He is an Associate Editor of the prestigious Journal of Bioethical Inquiry and has authored over 60 peer-reviewed publications.
Alexander is a Fellow by examination of the Australasian College of Legal Medicine and the College of General Dentistry, as well as a member in specialist practice (Dental Public Health) with the Royal Australasian College of Dental Surgeons.
Alexander is married to the wonderful Viki (also a dentist) and is Dad to Cameron. Alexander enjoys being outdoors with nature and is a keen gardener.