Voting is now open for the Mersey & North West seat on the College Council, and eligible members are encouraged to cast their ballot.
Candidates for the Mersey & North West Council seat: Ralph Pickup FCGDent (l) and Anand Chandrasekaran FCGDent (r)
Two candidates are standing – Anand Chandrasekaran FCGDent and Ralph Pickup FCGDent – and Full Members, Associate Fellows and Fellows of the College who have registered an address with the College which is within its Mersey & North West region are encouraged to vote.
Dr Anand Chandrasekaran is an associate dentist at a mixed NHS-and-private practice in Helsby, Cheshire, where he accepts referrals for advanced restorative dentistry. He qualified BDS in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, in 2000, graduating top of his class in oral medicine, radiology and oral surgery. He later founded a charitable dental practice in the city, providing basic dental care for the underprivileged population of the district of Kolathur. After co-owning a dental practice in India for several years, he re-located to the UK, where he has practised since 2008. In 2017, he completed an MSc in Aesthetic and Restorative Dentistry at the University of Manchester with distinction. The following year he joined the course as a tutor and mentor, and in 2021 he was made an Honorary Teaching Associate in Dentistry within the university’s School of Medical Sciences. He holds the Membership of the Faculty of Dental Surgery (MFDS) award of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and joined the College of General Dentistry as an Associate Fellow in 2023, becoming a Fellow in 2024. He has a special interest in minimally invasive aesthetic dental treatments, has undertaken additional training in periodontics and the restoration of dental implants, and is currently in the final year of an MSc in Orthodontics at the University of Plymouth.
Dr Ralph Pickup is a partner and general dental practitioner in a private dental practice in Clitheroe, Lancashire, where he accepts referrals for endodontic treatment. He graduated BDS from Newcastle Dental School in 1997 with distinction in restorative dentistry, and subsequently practised NHS dentistry in Newcastle, Stanley (County Durham) and Thornton Cleveleys (Lancashire). He holds a Diploma in Conscious Sedation in Dentistry from Newcastle University, both an Advanced Certificate in Facilitating Learning in Healthcare Practice and a Postgraduate Diploma in Endodontics from the University of Central Lancashire, the Diploma in Dental Health Services Leadership and Management and Diploma of Fellowship of the former Faculty of General Dental Practice UK (FGDP), and the Membership of the Joint Dental Faculties (MJDF) of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. A former FGDP Fellowship Facilitator, he is a Foundation Member, Founding Contributor, Fellow and Certified Membership Facilitator of the College of General Dentistry, as well as a donor to its recent Coat of Arms Appeal. Chair of East Lancashire Local Dental Committee and a member of the British Dental Association’s General Dental Practice Committee, he participates in his Local Dental Network and Dental Practitioner Advice and Support Service scheme, and has previously been an educational supervisor for NHS Foundation Training. A Fellow of the International College of Dentists, he is a member of the British Endodontic Society, American Association of Endodontists, Northwest Endodontic Study Circle, Society for the Advancement of Anaesthesia in Dentistry, British Society for Restorative Dentistry and the British Society for Academic and Clinical Hypnosis.
The Council is the voice of our members, overseeing our role as a professional body and guiding the development of the College to fulfil its mission. Council members serve three-year terms and elections are held annually on a rotational basis. The elected candidate for the Mersey & North West region is due to serve from June 2026 – June 2029.
All members eligible to vote have been sent an email by the College’s election services provider, Mi-Voice, to the email address which the member has registered with the College. This contains the unique link/details they will need to cast their ballot online, as well as the candidates’ election statements. The deadline to vote is 23:59 on Monday 27 April 2026.
Please ensure that your membership of CGDent remains up to date before you vote, otherwise your vote might not count. The CGDent Member Register displays a list of all current Full Members, Associate Fellows and Fellows, together with their College region.
Each member’s allocated region is determined by the postal address they have registered with the College. This must be where the member either lives or works, and will be where their copies of the Primary Dental Journal and all other physical correspondence is sent. Your registered address can be updated in My Account following any change of location. A map of the College’s regions is here.
Please contact us at [email protected] if you think you are a Full Member, Associate Fellow or Fellow of the College but cannot find yourself on the Member Register, or if any of your listed details are incorrect.
If you need to renew your membership, you can do this easily online here.
If you are an Associate Member considering upgrading your membership in order to vote, or a non-member considering joining in order to do so, you will need to allow 1-2 weeks for the process to complete and for your unique voting details to be issued to you. Late votes will not be counted.
Following the election, the results will be announced at the end of April.
If you are an eligible member but cannot find the email from Mi-Voice inviting you to vote in your inbox, please check your junk or spam folder, and if necessary double-check the email account you have registered with the College by logging in at https://cgdent.uk/my-account.
If you experience any technical difficulties submitting your vote(s), please contact Mi-Voice at [email protected] or on 02380 763987.
For information on when elections will next be held for other seats, see the College Council webpage.
