Dr Sue McAllister
Leader
Sue trained as a nurse and worked for a number of years in community health projects in Nepal. After returning to New Zealand in 1997 she completed her Master of Public Health, worked in the Dunedin School of Medicine's AIDS Epidemiology Group, and on a number of different research projects in the Department of Preventive and Social Medicine.
After completing a PhD at the end of 2012, Sue joined the Centre for International Health (CIH) and worked with the Tuberculosis (TB) Research Group based in Bandung, Indonesia, until June 2016. She is now based once again in the Department of Preventive and Social Medicine in Dunedin working part-time in the CIH on TB-related projects, and part-time in the AIDS Epidemiology Group.
Research interests include HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, international health, and socioeconomic and quality of life consequences of illness.
Ashleigh de Gouw
Research Assistant
Ashleigh started her university career with the University of Otago studying Anatomy and Theatre Studies at undergraduate level. She developed an interest in public health during this time and completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Public Health in 2020. Shortly after, she joined the Dunedin School of Medicine's AIDS Epidemiology Group as a Research Assistant.
Dr Jerram Bateman
Research Fellow
Jerram's background is in development geography, having completed an MA exploring the role of sport in development in India, and a PhD examining long-term continuity and change in the livelihoods of two rural communities in Sierra Leone.
His MA research included case studies of projects which used cricket to promote awareness of, and reduce stigma around, HIV/AIDS in India; while his PhD fieldwork in 2014 coincided with the West African Ebola outbreak, which led to further research assessing the impact of Ebola on rural livelihoods in Sierra Leone.
These somewhat serendipitous exposures to public health issues nurtured an interest in health research, and he is now a Research Fellow in the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, where he works part-time in the AIDS Epidemiology Group, and part-time in the Social and Behavioural Research Unit.
Professor Patricia Priest
Epidemiological Advisor to the AIDS Epidemiology Group
Associate Professor Peter Saxton
Advisor
Peter is interested in combining insights from HIV epidemiology and behavioural research to continually improve prevention practice and health policy, with the goal of eliminating community transmission of HIV. He completed his PhD with the Department of Preventive and Social Medicine in 2009, led New Zealand's first community study of undiagnosed HIV prevalence in 2011 and leads the country's HIV behavioural surveillance programme among MSM.
His other research interests include HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), vaccines for gonorrhoea and Human Papillomavirus (HPV), sexual orientation data collection, illicit drug use and blood donor deferral policy. He has a joint position at the School of Population Health at the University of Auckland and works closely with NGOs and affected communities.