Rate My Professor Alastair Murray

Dr Alastair Murray is a consultant anatomical pathologist at Canterbury Health Laboratories, Christchurch Hospital, where he has served since 2003. He is affiliated with the Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine at the University of Otago, Christchurch campus, within the Faculty of Medicine, Health Sciences Division. Murray obtained his BSc and MBChB degrees from the University of Otago and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia (FRCPA). Throughout his career, he has made notable contributions to medical student education in anatomical pathology. In 2020, he received the Christchurch Medical Student Association (CMSA) Best Vertical Module Fourth Year Class Teaching Award for Anatomical Pathology, a UOC Teaching Award, and a teaching award presented by the Dean, Professor Peter Joyce.

Murray's research and professional interests center on neuropathology, including prion diseases such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) and cerebral amyloid angiopathy. In 2019, he completed a six-week sabbatical at the Western General Hospital and the UK CJD Unit in Edinburgh, supervised by neuropathologist Professor Colin Smith, with funding from the Neurological Foundation of New Zealand. His publications include 'Cerebral amyloid angiopathy-related inflammation with a remote temporal association with COVID-19 vaccination,' published in the Journal of Clinical Neuroscience (volume 121, pages 97-99, 2024), co-authored with Mark Dagger, Deborah Mason, and John Fink. He has provided histopathological advice for studies such as 'Differential contribution of diabetes and the Ren2 gene to glomerular pathology in diabetic (mREN-2)27 rats' (Laboratory Investigation, 2010). Murray has contributed to prion disease surveillance efforts in New Zealand, acknowledged in Prion 2024 conference abstracts alongside colleagues including Dr Clinton Turner and Dr Eion Mulroy. He has also served as a speaker at the CJD Support New Zealand workshop, sharing insights on prion pathology.