Rate My Professor Deborah Harris

Professor Deborah Harris is the Joint Chair Professor of Nursing and Midwifery Research at the University of Newcastle School of Nursing and Midwifery, College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing, in partnership with Hunter New England Local Health District. She holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing and a Master of Health Sciences, both from the University of Auckland, New Zealand. As New Zealand’s first registered Nurse Practitioner, she has trailblazed advanced nursing practice for over four decades, leading in innovative pedagogy, evidence-based practice, and integration of mātauranga Māori into culturally responsive healthcare education. Her career includes prior roles as Associate Professor and Deputy Director of the School of Nursing, Midwifery, and Health Practice at Victoria University of Wellington.

Professor Harris specializes in neonatal care, nurse practitioner workforce development, health services research, neonatal hypoglycaemia, neonatology, continuous glucose monitoring in newborn infants, perinatal research, randomised controlled trials, and observational clinical research. She led the landmark Sugar Babies Study, a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial published in The Lancet (2013), which established dextrose gel as an effective treatment for neonatal hypoglycaemia, revolutionizing global clinical guidelines, reducing mother-baby separations, and saving substantial healthcare costs. The Glucose in Well Babies (GLOW) Study further elucidated glucose concentrations in healthy term newborns over the first five days post-birth. Key recent publications include 'Holding complexity: Intuition, safety and kindness in neonatal care' (Nurse Education in Practice, 2026), 'Navigating the Pathway to Co-designed Nurse Practitioner Research in Aotearoa New Zealand' (Journal for Nurse Practitioners, 2026), 'Evolving roles and workforce trends among nurse practitioners in Aotearoa New Zealand (2014-2022)' (New Zealand Medical Journal, 2026), and 'Nurse practitioners in New Zealand: An integrative review of clinical practice and involvement in policy' (Collegian, 2025). She received the Prime Minister's Science Prize (2022) for her neonatal care work, and the Nurse Practitioners of New Zealand named an award for education and research in her honor.