Meet members of the University of Auckland's School of Population Health and their involvement in global health/indigenous health teaching programs.


Professor Alistair Woodward is Head of the School of Population Health at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. The School includes over 300 staff in 8 sections, covering most of the disciplines in primary care and public health. Alistair graduated in medicine from the University of Adelaide, completed a Masters in Medical Science at the University of Nottingham, trained as a specialist in public health medicine in the UK, and then gained a PhD in Epidemiology (Adelaide). Prior to his appointment in Auckland in 2004, he was Professor of Public Health at the University of Otago Wellington. His major research interests are in environmental health and tobacco control. Recent work includes an international assessment of the effects of smoke-free policies, a community trial of home insulation, a 13 country study of cell phones and brain tumours, analysis of the public health benefits of greenhouse gas mitigation and follow-up of a cohort of 2600 cyclists. He has been a member of the New Zealand Health Research Council, and Chair of the Public Health Research Committee, and has also chaired the Public Health Advisory Committee for the NZ Minister of Health. He has worked extensively in the Pacific and Asia as a consultant for agencies such as WHO, UNEP and the Ford Foundation. He is presently Convening Lead Author of the health chapter in the 5th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.


Associate Professor Chris Bullen is Director of the Clinical Trials Research Unit at the School of Population Health at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. The CTRU includes over 55 staff in four research themes (Nutrition and Physical activity, Cardiovascular Disease, Addictions and Health Informatics and Technology). Chris is a medical graduate with specialist training in public health medicine. He has worked in a wide range of clinical and public health roles in Papua New Guinea and New Zealand. He has an MPH from the University of Auckland, and a PhD in Community Medicine. His major current research interests are in pragmatic intervention trials of tobacco control innovations, specifically novel smoking cessation interventions. Chris is currently joint director of a new national tobacco control research programme to inform the halving of smoking prevalence in New Zealand in a decade; he is principal investigator on an efficacy trial of e-cigarettes and also PI on a trial of a novel cardiovascular polypill for medication adherence. He has had longstanding interests in housing and health research. He is a board member of the New Zealand National Heart Foundation and Chair of the Heart Foundation’s Public Health Research Strategic Advisory Committee. Chris also leads a successful programme in public health for senior medical students and contributes to postgraduate education in public health and global health at the School of Population Health.

Dr. Judith McCool completed her Master of Public Health 1997 and PhD in Health Psychology in 2002. She has been an active contributor to research in the field of tobacco control, media and health behaviours and risk perceptions research since 1998. Judith has been the lead investigator on numerous research projects funded by the Health Research Council and National Heart Foundation of New Zealand and an active co-investigator on other research projects. She is regularly involved in commentary on tobacco issues in the media, with the most recent based on her research on youth perceptions of plain packaging. Since being appointed to senior lecturer in global health, Judith has developed networks in Asia Pacific region and more recently in Chile and Colombia, where she has participated in country and regional forums for global health and tobacco control. The Global Health Group, led by Judith, been awarded a Vice Chancellor’s Strategic Development Award (2009) and an International Research Team Development Award (2010) to enhance international global health collaboration. She is the coordinator of Andrews Family fellowship initiative between the School of Population Health and the Fiji School of Medicine. Her major research interests include assessment of the impact of trade on health outcomes (child health, NCDs), tobacco industry activity in the Pacific region, media interpretations and health behaviours. Judith teaches global health within the Master of Public Health programme and is primary supervisor global health related MPH and PhD thesis on global health topics. Judith was guest editor for the Asia Pacific Journal of Public Health, Special Issue on Pacific Health (2011).