Rate My Professor Haizal Hussaini

Professor Haizal Hussaini serves as Professor in the Department of Oral Diagnostic and Surgical Sciences within the Faculty of Dentistry at the University of Otago. His academic qualifications include a BDS from the University of Malaya, MDentSci in Oral Pathology from the University of Leeds, PhD from the University of Otago, and Fellowship in Dental Surgery (FDSRCSEd) from the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. His professional career trajectory at the University of Otago includes positions as Senior Lecturer from January 2015 to January 2021 and Associate Professor from February 2021, currently holding the rank of Professor. Prior to this, he served as Deputy Dean of Postgraduate and Research at the Faculty of Dentistry, National University of Malaysia from September 2013 to December 2015. As a consultant oral pathologist at the University of Otago's Oral Pathology Centre, he is one of three senior diagnostic oral pathologists in New Zealand. He also leads the Oral Molecular and Immunopathology programme at the Sir John Walsh Research Institute.

Professor Hussaini's research specializations encompass oral pathology and immunology, with a core interest in investigating immune responses in the tumour microenvironment, particularly of oral squamous cell carcinoma, research initiated in 2007 and culminating in his PhD in 2013. Current projects explore modulation of the immune system by cancer cells in local invasion, lymph node metastasis, metastatic lymph node profiling, and the angiogenic role in oral squamous cell carcinoma spread. He has secured three grants as Principal Investigator: one from the Otago Medical Research Foundation and two from the New Zealand Dental Association Research Foundation. In his teaching role, he delivers undergraduate instruction in General Pathology, Oral Pathology in Clinical Practice, Pathogenesis of Oral Diseases, and Human Disease modules, coordinates Paper 362, and supervises postgraduate research along with clinical teaching for the Doctorate in Clinical Dentistry in Oral Pathology. Additionally, he serves as Councillor for Australasia in the International Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathologists. Key publications include "Differential expressions of inflammatory, dentinogenic, regulatory, proliferative and stemness genes in non-carious and carious human dental pulp tissues: An ex vivo proof-of-concept study" (2026, International Endodontic Journal), "Sclerosing odontogenic carcinoma: A review of a challenging entity in malignant odontogenic classification with a focus on perineural invasion and cellular proliferation" (2026, Journal of Oral Pathology & Medicine), "Papilliferous keratoameloblastoma (PKA): Is it a different clinicopathological entity or histological subtype of conventional ameloblastoma?" (2026, Journal of Oral Pathology & Medicine), and a book chapter "Histopathology of reactive hyperplastic lesions of the oral mucosa" (2025). His contributions have amassed approximately 1,948 citations on Google Scholar, underscoring his influence in the field.