Dr Kim Gear is an Oral Medicine Specialist based at Greenlane and Auckland City Hospital. She is dual qualified in Medicine and Dentistry and has an honours degree in microbiology. Kim’s dissertation for her Master of Medical Science in Oral Medicine was on the Quality of Life in Patients treated for Head and Neck Malignancies. Dr Gear sees and manages general oral medicine clinical cases, but her main interest lies in the area of Head and Neck Malignancies. Her current research through the University of Auckland is related to the oral micro biome, the premalignant and malignant oral lesion, the influence of the oral micro biome in radiation therapy induced oral mucositis, and the analysis of HPV in the oropharyngeal malignancies.