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photo of Moira-Smith public health deptBDS PhD PGDipSci DPH
Senior Research Fellow; Co-Director HePPRU
Teaching and Supervision Portfolio Lead; Department of Public Health

Contact details

Tel +64 4 385 5541 ext 4879
Fax +64 4 389 5319
Email moira.smith@otago.ac.nz

Research interests and activities

Dr Moira Smith is a Senior Research Fellow, Co-Director of the  Health Promotion and Policy Research Unit, and Teaching and Supervision Portfolio Leader of the wider Department of Public Health. Prior to becoming a member of the Department of Public Health in 2010, Moira had over 20 years' experience in clinical dentistry, in New Zealand and the UK. Moira's doctoral study was conducted during the tenure of a Health Research Council Clinical Research Training Fellowship.

Moira's research focuses on the broad determinants of health, gathering evidence to inform policy and (in turn) create supportive environments. Key areas of research interest include children's health, especially addressing harm from unhealthy food environments, alcohol and gambling, and oral health, particularly older people's oral health and addressing inequities in oral health in Aotearoa. Her research uses qualitative research methods, policy research and mixed method designs.

Moira was a named investigator on Kids'Cam, an innovative research project that used wearable cameras to study the world children live in, and is currently co-leading Kids Online Aotearoa, which studies children's online worlds, their engagement with it and its impact on their health and wellbeing. Moira leads a team investigating the feasibility of incorporating oral health care in aged care and is a named investigator in AWESSoM: Ageing Well through Eating, Sleeping, Socialising and Mobility, funded by the Ageing Well National Science Challenge.

Moira is an associate member of the Sir John Walsh Research Institute, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Otago, Dunedin, Chair of the NZ Oral Health Clinical Advisory Network and Associate Editor of Gerodontology. She has supervised seven MPH and three doctoral students to completion, and is currently involved in the supervision of two MPH and five doctoral students.

Publications

Salz, L., Sharma, C., Koo, E. G., Novita, C., McCarthy, S., Elisara, G., Day, K., Smith, M., & Broadbent, J. M. (2024). Collection and recording of vaping habits in oral health records for dental patients. New Zealand Dental Journal, 120(3), 127-135. Journal - Research Article

Puloka, V., Smith, M., Ferguson, A., Gage, R., Signal, L., & Baker, M. (2024, September). Identifying infectious disease risk factors for Tongan children: A wearable camera study. Verbal presentation at the Pacific Islands Health Research Symposium, Nadi, Fiji. Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs

Oda, K., Bakri, N. N., Majeed, S., Bartlett, S., Thomson, W. M., Parsons, J., … Ferguson, C. A., & Smith, M. (2024). Improving Nursing Oral Care Practice for Community-Dwelling Care-Dependent Older People. International Journal of Older People Nursing, 19(6), e12656. doi: 10.1111/opn.12656 Journal - Research Article

Smith, M. B., Hitchings, E., & McBain, L. (2024). Nurses' and general practitioners' perspectives on oral health in primary care: A qualitative study. Journal of Primary Health Care. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1071/HC23153 Journal - Research Article

McBain, L., Hitchings, L., Yang, B., & Smith, M. (2024). Filling a gap: Development and delivery of an oral health clinical skills module for medical students. Australian Journal of Primary Health, 30, (pp. 25). doi: 10.1071/PYv30n4abs Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract

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