Rate My Professor Amanda Landers

Dr. Amanda Landers serves as Head of the Department of Medicine at the University of Otago, Christchurch, and holds the position of Clinical Senior Lecturer. She earned her MBChB from the University of Otago in 2000 and specialized in palliative care medicine, gaining extensive experience working in communities across Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia, including Christchurch, Wellington, and Darwin. In 2023, she completed her PhD at the University of Otago with distinction, supervised by Professors Lutz Beckert, Suzanne Pitama, and Suetonia Palmer. Her doctoral research focused on developing models of end-of-life care for individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), resulting in three proposed models to enhance high-quality services for those with severe COPD. Landers also acts as module convenor for Palliative and End of Life Care within the university curriculum.

Landers leads the Aotearoa Australia Pancreatic Enzyme Replacement Therapy (ASPERT) multi-disciplinary research group, which includes over 20 members from Australia and New Zealand comprising doctors, nurses, palliative care specialists, and patients. The group is dedicated to improving access to pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy (PERT) for pancreatic cancer patients, addressing malabsorption issues to enhance digestion, reduce weight loss, improve quality of life, and support chemotherapy tolerance. Her research interests encompass palliative care, community medicine, symptom management in advanced diseases, nutritional interventions in cancer care, end-of-life care transitions, and healthcare system designs for chronic conditions, including palliative medicine in Pacific Islands contexts. Key publications include 'Patient perceptions of severe COPD and transitions towards end of life' (2015, NPJ Primary Care Respiratory Medicine), 'What can we learn from patients to improve their non-invasive ventilation experience?' (2020), 'Enzyme replacement in advanced pancreatic cancer: patient perceptions' (2023), 'Recruitment of participants with pancreatic cancer to a mixed-methods study' (2023, BMJ Open), 'Policy, system and service design influence on healthcare utilisation in severe COPD' (2024, BMC Health Services Research), 'Development of Novel Symptom Score to Assist in Screening for Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency' (2025, Epidemiologia), 'Implementation strategies for integrating nutritional interventions into cancer care' (2026, Clinical Nutrition), and 'Community-based management of gastrointestinal symptoms at end-of-life in scleroderma using subcutaneous medication: A case report' (2026, Annals of Palliative Medicine). Her work contributes significantly to advancing palliative care practices and patient-centered models in respiratory and oncological fields.