Rate My Professor Christina McKerchar

Associate Professor Christina McKerchar (Ngāti Kahungunu, Tūhoe, Ngāti Porou) serves as Associate Professor in Māori Health in the Department of Public Health at the University of Otago, Christchurch. She holds a Bachelor of Consumer and Applied Sciences (BCApSc), Master of Science (MSc) with distinction, and PhD from the University of Otago, with her doctoral thesis titled 'Food availability for tamariki: a rights-based approach' completed in 2021. Trained as a nutritionist, she worked for several years with Te Hotu Manawa Māori, a national Māori health provider, prior to embarking on her academic career. Her research focuses broadly on the right to healthy food, encompassing the food environment—particularly food availability and marketing—food security, food sovereignty, and other public health determinants impacting Māori hauora, including alcohol, transport, and housing. Core research interests include public health nutrition, food security, and Māori health.

McKerchar chairs the Māori Research Advisory Rōpū to support Māori Health Advancement at the University of Otago Christchurch, and serves as a member of Climate Health Aotearoa and the Food Expert panel for Health Coalition Aotearoa. She convenes PUBH 712 Foundations of Hauora Māori and PUBH 741 Hauora Māori - Policy, Practice and Research, and supervises postgraduate students, including PhD candidates Nicki Williams and Cara Meredith. Current projects include Te Rōpū Rangahau ō Te Kāhui Matepukupuku (Cancer Society Research Collaboration), sustainable New Zealand diets under the Healthier Lives National Science Challenge, and ACTIVATION for active travel interventions. Key publications comprise 'Modelled health impacts of three stakeholder-selected policies to support healthy and environmentally sustainable population diets in New Zealand' (Food Policy, 2026, co-authored with Cleghorn et al.), 'Alcohol marketing exposure to children in New Zealand: A systematic narrative review' (Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 2026), 'Māori navigating gut symptoms: "I mean, who gets cramp that often in their puku?"' (MAI Journal, 2025), and '"They were my anchors" Māori with perinatal mental illness identify culturally safe and clinically excellent health care' (International Journal for Equity in Health, 2025). Her scholarship, with over 650 citations, contributes to advancing health equity and policy for Māori communities.