Rate My Professor Charlotte Paul

Emeritus Professor Charlotte Paul holds the position of Emeritus Professor in the Department of Public Health (Dunedin) within the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Otago. Her academic qualifications include MB ChB, PhD, DPH (Otago), and FAFPHM, with her PhD awarded by the University of Otago for the thesis titled 'The role of steroid contraception in the aetiology of breast cancer' in 1992. She was appointed Associate Professor in the Department of Preventive and Social Medicine in 1993 and progressed to full professorship before attaining emeritus status. Paul directed the AIDS Epidemiology Group for 20 years, overseeing monitoring of HIV/AIDS in New Zealand. Her career has centered on contributions to public health research, including supervision of doctoral students such as Lianne Parkin on risk factors for venous thromboembolism and Ann Richardson on evaluation of a pilot breast cancer screening programme.

Paul's research specializations lie in public health and epidemiology, focusing on HIV/AIDS, women's cancers, contraception, screening, and ethical considerations in medical research. She has been involved in the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study, contributing to investigations of sexual and reproductive behaviors, sexually transmitted infections, multiple sex partners and later drug/alcohol problems, and childhood behavior problems linked to sexual risk-taking. Key publications include 'Natural history of cervical neoplasia and risk of invasive cancer in women with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia 3: A retrospective cohort study' (2008, Lancet Oncology), 'Longitudinal study of self-reported sexually transmitted infection incidence by gender and age up to age thirty-two years' (2009, Sexually Transmitted Diseases), 'Making policy decisions about population screening for breast cancer: The role of citizens' deliberation' (2008, Health Policy), 'Public good, personal privacy: A citizens' deliberation about using medical information for pharmacoepidemiological research' (2011, Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health), 'Do different types of financial support after illness or injury affect socio-economic outcomes? A natural experiment in New Zealand' (2013, Social Science & Medicine), 'The Rationalization of Unethical Research: Revisionist Accounts of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study and the New Zealand "Unfortunate Experiment"' (2015), 'CERVICAL SCREENING AND OVERDIAGNOSIS' (2020, Journal of Clinical Epidemiology), and 'Use of puberty-blocking hormones for gender dysphoria in New Zealand: descriptive analysis and international comparisons' (2024). Her work has influenced discussions on screening policies, research ethics, and public health interventions.