Rate My Professor Brandon de Graaf

Brandon de Graaf is a Research Fellow in the Department of Public Health, Dunedin School of Medicine, University of Otago, within the Division of Health Sciences. He holds a BSc in Information Science from the University of Otago and continues to pursue part-time studies. Before entering academia, de Graaf worked in IT support roles. Employed at the University of Otago since 2007, he serves as a health data scientist with expertise in data capture, processing, process optimisation and automation, database management systems and data warehouses, machine learning, geocoding, geospatial mapping and modelling, linking datasets, preparing and running online surveys, automating repetitive processes, and resolving data-related challenges. Listed among the academic staff, his research focus is data science and geospatial modelling, supporting the biostatistics group in the Department of Public Health.

De Graaf has co-authored 39 research works accumulating 445 citations, primarily in public health epidemiology and health services research. Key publications include 'Optimising base locations for New Zealand's Helicopter Emergency Medical Services' (de Graaf et al.), 'Access to specialist hospital care and injury survivability' (de Graaf et al., 2021), 'Opportunities to prevent fatalities due to injury: a cross-sectional comparison of prehospital and in-hospital fatal injury' (de Graaf et al., 2021, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health), 'Rural–urban variation in COVID-19 vaccination uptake in Aotearoa New Zealand' (De Graaf et al., 2024), 'Rural Urban Differences in Receipt of Radiation Oncology Services' (de Graaf et al., 2025, Journal of Medical Imaging and Radiation Oncology), and 'Gastric cancer survival (in)equity from 2002 to 2021: examining demographic and clinical factors' (recent). His contributions have informed studies on injury survivability, health inequities, rural health access, and emergency services in New Zealand. In 2020, he shared the Otago Medical School Dunedin Campus Research Excellence Award with Dave Barson.