Rate My Professor Geoff Noller

Dr. Geoff Noller is a Research Fellow in the Department of Primary Health Care at the University of Otago's Dunedin School of Medicine, within the Faculty of Medicine. A medical anthropologist, he earned his PhD from the University of Otago's Department of Psychological Medicine in 2008. His doctoral thesis, titled 'Cannabis in New Zealand: Use, users and policy,' examined cannabis consumption as a cultural practice, incorporating perspectives from users, drug policy reformers, and government personnel. Noller's research employs ethnographic and mixed-methods approaches, focusing on psychotropic drug use as a cultural practice, public health, rural health, harm reduction, and drug policy. Current projects include investigating the psychosocial impacts of the Mycoplasma bovis zoonotic disease incursion on southern New Zealand farming communities and enhancing harm reduction services and strategies for people who inject drugs in Te Waipounamu, the South Island.

Noller's career includes prior roles as Research Director in the Department of Psychological Medicine at the University of Otago and Managing Director of Substance Use and Policy Analysis (SUPA), a consultancy established post-PhD specializing in psychotropic drug research for government, tertiary, and private sectors. He serves as a Non-lay Member of the Southern Health and Disabilities Ethics Committee and Research Coordinator for the DISC Trust, a harm reduction NGO. His publications encompass key works such as 'Ibogaine treatment outcomes for opioid dependence from a twelve-month follow-up observational study' (2018), 'The New Zealand drug harms ranking study: A multi-criteria decision analysis' (2023), 'Patients' experiences of therapeutic cannabis consumption in New Zealand' (2023), 'Moral distress in rural veterinarians as an outcome of the Mycoplasma bovis incursion in southern New Zealand' (2023), 'Injecting-related injuries experienced by people who inject drugs in New Zealand: impact, healthcare access and stigma' (2025), '3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) consumption in Aotearoa New Zealand: A quantitative survey exploration' (2024), and 'A thematic analysis of MDMA-related harm and harm reduction experiences and knowledge in Aotearoa New Zealand' (2024). Additional contributions cover topics like sick leave management in universities, injecting drug use among gay and bisexual men, synthetic cannabinoid harms, and rural experiences with conditions such as endometriosis and inflammatory bowel disease. Noller chairs the Dunedin Intravenous Organisation's Reference Group and provides expert witness services in drug-related court cases.