Gordon Proctor was appointed as a Professor of Salivary Biology in 2006, having been a Reader in Secretory Biology, University of London from 1998 to 2005. He received his PhD in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Sheffield in 1984.

Gordon has published extensively on the role of autonomic nerves in controlling salivary gland function in health and in disease. Studies of the composition and functions of saliva have examined protection of oral surfaces and the impact of altered saliva composition in oral disease, particularly chronically dry mouth and tooth demineralization. The presence of disease biomarkers in saliva and most recently the impact of the oral microbiota on health and disease has been a topic of Gordon’s recent collaborative research. A study of Noma, a rapidly progressing orofacial ulcerative disease of children in developing countries, is currently underway with researchers at the Noma Children’s Hospital in Sokoto, Nigeria.