Otago Appoints Professor of Global Health

20 July 2011

Otago Appoints Professor of Global Health

An outstanding specialist on infectious diseases has been appointed to a second endowed professorial chair in the Centre for International Health at the University of Otago. He is Associate Professor John Crump, who currently heads a research centre in Tanzania for the Duke University Medical Center and the Duke Global Health Institute.

Otago’s Centre for International Health was launched in 2008, with the appointment of Dr Philip Hill to a Chair endowed by the Sisters of Mercy. This new chair in Global Health has been established through the generosity of a Dunedin couple, Stuart and Marylyn McKinlay.

After graduation in Medicine from the University of Otago, Dr Crump undertook postgraduate education and training in Christchurch, South Africa, London, Australia, and the United States. He is qualified as a specialist in both internal medicine and medical microbiology, and has trained in field epidemiology with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the USA.

Since 2002, Dr Crump has been based at the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre in Moshi, Tanzania where he leads a major collaboration with Duke University and serves as a medical epidemiologist with the CDC. He has an outstanding record of research and publication on many aspects of infectious diseases in resource-poor settings. In particular, he has worked on the syndrome of fever and its causes in East Africa, animal-associated infections, laboratory services in resource-poor areas, and HIV prevention, treatment and care, including HIV-associated opportunistic infections. He has also been involved in undergraduate and postgraduate education.

Announcing the appointment, Vice-Chancellor Professor David Skegg said that the University is delighted to be attracting a person of Dr Crump’s calibre back to New Zealand.

“Dr Crump already has a distinguished international reputation for his work on infectious diseases in East Africa. When he takes up his appointment, he will be able to collaborate not only with Professor Philip Hill and others in the Centre for International Health, but also with the growing number of scientists engaged in basic and applied research on infectious diseases at Otago’s three campuses.”

“One of the strategic imperatives of this University is to contribute to international progress, including the needs of the developing world. It is very gratifying to see the rapid development of our capacity to assist in improving international health.”

Health Sciences Pro-Vice-Chancellor Professor Peter Crampton says that Dr Crump will be a valuable addition to the University and he is looking forward to the contributions he will make to research and teaching.

“We have already built a strong momentum in the area of international health and his considerable body of knowledge, experience and skills should allow us to significantly enhance our efforts,” Professor Crampton says.

Dr Crump says that he is delighted that the McKinlay family and the University of Otago have combined efforts to further expand the University’s focus on the health needs of people living in resource-poor areas.

“As a New Zealander and an Otago graduate who has spent the past 15 years working abroad in global health, I am excited to return to Dunedin and to contribute what I have learned to the growth of the discipline in New Zealand,” Dr Crump says.

The University’s high level of commitment to global health and broad expertise provide a great opportunity to combine efforts with colleagues both at Otago and in low- and middle-income countries to work on some of the world’s most troubling health problems, he says.

Dr Crump will take up his appointment to the McKinlay Chair in Global Health in December.

ENDS

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