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Research Areas:

Course and program evaluations, teaching & learning, graduate outcomes, student success and wellbeing in post-secondary education

Teaching Areas:

Professionalism & ethics, evidence-based practice, local anesthesia, academic writing, qualitative research methodology

Educational Leadership 
ADEA Academic Dental Careers Fellowship Program (ADCFP) Liaison 
Director of Admissions & Student Affairs (2022-2025) 
Director, Dental Hygiene Degree Program (2015-2022) 
 
Graduate Education 
MSc (Dental Science) - University of British Columbia;  
EdD (Educational Leadership in Post-Secondary Contexts) - Simon Fraser University  
 
Teaching 
Professionalism & ethics, evidence-based practice, local anesthesia, academic writing, and research methods. Dr. Kanji has been the recipient of many UBC Dentistry teaching awards as well as the W.W. Wood National Dental Teaching Award (2013), the CDHA Excellence in Teaching Award (2014), and the Association of Canadian Faculties of Dentistry (ACFD) National Dental Teaching Award (2020). 
 
Research 
Course and program evaluations, teaching & learning, graduate outcomes, student success and wellbeing in post-secondary education. 
 
Service 
UBC committees related to curriculum and teaching effectiveness, academic progress, budget and planning, admissions, and student affairs.  
BC College of Oral Health Professionals, Registration Committee 
CJDH Editorial Board Member 
IFDH Educators' Forum Organizing Committee. 
Peer reviewer for numerous dental and higher education journals. 
 
Recent Publications 
 
Mazoka M, Kanji Z. Managing patient mental health disclosures in Canadian dental and dental hygiene programs. Canadian Journal of Dental Hygiene. June 2025; 59(2): 116-24. 
 
Rock L, Compton S, MacDonald LL, Kanji Z. Motivations for and outcomes of graduate education among dental hygienists: A pan-Canadian study. International Journal of Dental Hygiene. Feb 2024; 22(1):258-67. https://doi.org/10.1111/idh.12726 
 
Katyal S, Laronde D, Aleksejuniene A, Compton S, Kanji Z. Barriers to pursuing further education among Canadian dental hygienists: A qualitative exploration. Canadian Journal of Dental Hygiene. Feb 2024; 58(1):9-18. 
 
Rock L, MacDonald LK, Compton S, MacDonald LL, Kanji Z. Motivating influences and career outcomes of baccalaureate-educated dental hygienists: A pan-Canadian study. Canadian Journal of Dental Hygiene. 2023; 57(1):14-24. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10032641/  
 
Kanji Z, Pidgeon M, Nilson M. Enhancing post-secondary student retention: Lessons learned from stories of former first-year students. Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice. 2022;59(2):165-179. https://doi.org/10.1080/19496591.2020.1835670 
 
Sunell S, Laronde D, Kanji Z. Fourth-year dental hygiene students’ educational preparedness: Self-confidence ratings of the Canadian Dental Hygienists Association Baccalaureate Competencies (2017-2019). Journal of Dental Education. 2021;85(6):768-777. https://doi.org/10.1002/jdd.12546 
 
Nguyen K, Gottlieb R, Kanji Z. Transitioning into an online dental hygiene degree-completion program. Journal of Dental Education. 2021;85(5):722-731. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jdd.12507  
 
Shariati B, Kanji Z, Soheilipour S, Partic L. Sharif A. Enhancing learning in an online oral epidemiology and statistics course. Canadian Journal of Dental Hygiene. 2021;55(1):17-29. 
 
Katyal S, Kanji Z. Students’ motivating influences for selecting dental hygiene and a 4-year degree: A retrospective study. International Journal of Dental Hygiene. 2021;19(1) :114-20. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/idh.12472  
 
Sunell S, Compton C, Kanji Z. Our professional image and the C-Word: Pandemic reflections. CDHA Oh Canada!. Winter 2020: 32-33. 
 
La Chimea T, Kanji Z, Schmitz S. Assessment of clinical competence in competency-based education. Canadian Journal of Dental Hygiene. 2020;54(2):83-91. 
*Selected for 2021 CJDH Research Award for best literature review 
 
Kanji Z, Lin D, Karan J. Assessing dental hygiene students’ readiness for interprofessional learning and collaborative practice. Journal of Dental Education. 2020;84(6):669-80. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jdd.12117  
 
Sunell S, Laronde D, Kanji Z. Dental hygiene graduates’ educational preparedness: Self-confidence ratings of the CDHA baccalaureate competencies. International Journal of Dental Hygiene. 2020;18(3):295-306. https://doi.org/10.1111/idh.12434 
 
Waldron S, Walker J, Kanji Z, von Bergmann H. Dental hygiene clinical instructors’ pedagogical beliefs and described practices about student-centered education. Journal of Dental Education, 2019;83(9):1019-29. https://doi.org/10.21815/JDE.019.106  
*Selected as Top 10 most notable article in JDE in 2019 
 
Kanji Z, Pidgeon M, Nilson M. Selecting a bachelor of dental science degree: Stories shared from a narrative inquiry. Journal of Dental Hygiene, 2019;93(4):44-52. https://jdh.adha.org/content/93/4/44  
 
Sunell S, Laronde D, Kanji Z. Graduating dental hygiene students’ attainment of the CDHA baccalaureate competencies: Students’ self-ratings. Canadian Journal of Dental Hygiene, 2019;53(2):100-109. 
*Selected for 2020 CJDH Research Award for best original research article 
 
Benbow P, Kanji Z. Dental hygiene baccalaureate education: A national study of students’ perceived value and intentions. Canadian Journal of Dental Hygiene, 2019;53(2):89-99. 
 
Wen M, Kanji Z, Laronde D, Shariati B, Rucker L. Out of the loupe: The prevalence of co-axial misalignment of surgical loupes among BC dental professionals. Journal of the American Dental Association (JADA), 2019; 150(1):49-57. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adaj.2018.09.022  
 
Kanji Z, Laronde DM. Career outcomes of dental hygiene baccalaureate education: A study of graduates’ professional opportunities, further education, and job satisfaction. Journal of Dental Education, 2018; 82(8):809-18. https://doi.org/10.21815/JDE.018.075 
*Selected as Top 10 most notable article in JDE in 2018