Rate My Professor Claire Wong

Claire Wong serves as a Professional Practice Fellow in the Department of Primary Health Care and General Practice at the University of Otago's Wellington campus, part of the Faculty of Medicine within the Health Sciences Division. A registered nurse (RN) holding an MSc, Fellow of the Faculty of Travel Medicine of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow (FFTM RCPS(Glasg)), Fellow of the International Society of Travel Medicine (FISTM), and Certificate in Travel Health (CTH®), she is a clinical lecturer and co-convenor for the postgraduate papers GENA713 Travel Medicine 1: Introductory Concepts and GENA714 Travel Medicine 2: Applied Concepts. Claire has specialized in travel medicine since 1996, beginning her career in the United Kingdom where she worked for ten years at the National Travel Health Network and Centre (NaTHNaC). She earned her Certificate in Travel Health in 2005, Diploma in Travel Medicine from University College London in 2009, and MSc in International and Travel Health in 2007. Relocating to New Zealand in 2013, she has practiced travel medicine at Worldwise Travellers Health Centres in Auckland and Palmerston North, originally from the UK but now permanently settled there.

Claire Wong's research and academic interests center on travel medicine, encompassing travel risk assessment and management, vaccine administration, prevention of diseases such as typhoid and malaria in travellers, tailored health advice for special risk groups including older travellers and those visiting friends and relatives abroad (VFR), and evaluation of travel medicine practices like yellow fever vaccination centres. Her key publications include the article 'Travel health: routine, recommended and required vaccines' in the British Journal of Nursing (2011, with Hilary Simons), 'Health advice for older people travelling overseas' (2012), 'The prevention of typhoid in travellers' (2012), 'Preventing malaria in travellers: an overview' (2012), and chapters such as 'The Last-Minute Traveller', 'Vaccines for Mass Travel', 'Vaccine Administration', and 'New Zealand Immunisation Practice' (all 2015), along with contributions to 'The Practical Compendium of Immunisations for International Travel' edited by Marc Shaw (2015). She holds fellowships from the Faculty of Travel Medicine RCPS(Glasg) and the International Society of Travel Medicine (awarded 2018-2019), recognizing her expertise as one of New Zealand's leading travel health nurses. Claire is a member of the Standing Committee for Travel Health Nurses of Australia and New Zealand (THNANZ), established in 2020 by the Australasian College of Tropical Medicine, and has presented at conferences such as the South Conference Travel Medicine Conference (2022).