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Associate Professor Amanda Kvalsvig serves in the Department of Public Health at the University of Otago, Wellington, within the Faculty of Medicine. She possesses a dual background in clinical paediatrics and epidemiology, holding qualifications including MBChB from the University of Cape Town, MRCPCH, MSc in Epidemiology from the University of London, and PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Otago. As a Senior Research Fellow and Co-Director of the Health Environment & Infection Research Unit (HEIRU), her career encompasses leading impactful public health research initiatives in New Zealand.
Kvalsvig is the lead researcher for Co-Search, a COVID-19 research collaborative headed by Professor Michael Baker, and SYMBIOTIC, a Health Research Council-funded programme examining the two-way relationships between infectious diseases and long-term conditions. Her research specializations include New Zealand's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, social determinants of health and wellbeing such as infectious diseases (particularly meningococcal disease), breastfeeding, child poverty, and early child development. She focuses methodologically on analysing existing data to produce high-quality evidence for policy and practice while supervising postgraduate students. Key publications feature "How Aotearoa New Zealand rapidly revised its Covid-19 response strategy: Lessons for the next pandemic plan" (Kvalsvig & Baker, 2021, Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand), "Masks and respirators for prevention of respiratory infections: A state of the science review" (Greenhalgh et al., 2024, Clinical Microbiology Reviews), "Case-fatality risk estimates for COVID-19 calculated by using a lag time for fatality" (Wilson et al., 2020, Emerging Infectious Diseases; 429 citations), "Potential lessons from the Taiwan and New Zealand health responses to the COVID-19 pandemic" (Summers et al., 2020, The Lancet Regional Health-Western Pacific; 388 citations), and "Increasing incidence of serious infectious diseases and inequalities in New Zealand: a national epidemiological study" (Baker et al., 2012, The Lancet; 371 citations). Her contributions have shaped strategies on pandemic preparedness, respiratory infection prevention, and health inequalities.
University of Otago's study uncovers 78% surge in sepsis hospitalisations over 20 years, inequities, and calls for national action in Aotearoa.
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