Rate My Professor Hazel Smith

Hazel Smith is affiliated with the Department of Women’s and Children’s Health, Dunedin School of Medicine, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. Her research contributions focus on adolescent health, including sleep patterns, school start times, and the impact of continuous glucose monitoring technologies on glycaemic control in type 1 diabetes.

In 2025, Smith served as first author on the study 'No Earlier Than 9:45 A.M. A Qualitative Study of Adolescents' Experiences of Later School Start Times in Aotearoa New Zealand,' published in Behavioral Sleep Medicine. This qualitative research, conducted with collaborators Charmaine Barber, Rachael Taylor, T. Leigh Signal, Sarah Hetrick, Mohamed Alansari, Jacinta Oldehaver, and Barbara Galland from the Department of Women’s and Children’s Health and other institutions, examined adolescents' experiences with adjusted school schedules to promote better sleep.

Smith was a co-author on the 2022 systematic review and meta-analysis titled 'Effect of divergent continuous glucose monitoring technologies on glycaemic control in type 1 diabetes mellitus: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials,' published in Diabetic Medicine. The analysis of 22 randomised controlled trials demonstrated that continuous glucose monitoring systems improved HbA1c by an average of -0.22% (95% CI: -0.31 to -0.14) and time-in-range by 5.4% (95% CI: 3.5 to 7.2) compared to traditional monitoring. Adjunctive CGM reduced HbA1c by -0.26%, while non-adjunctive CGM increased time-in-range by 6.0%. Combined adjunctive and non-adjunctive systems decreased time-below-range by 1.8% and time-above-range by 3.6%. Collaborators included Mona Elbalshy, Jillian Haszard, Sarahmarie Kuroko, Barbara Galland, Nick Oliver, Viral Shah, Martin I. de Bock, and Benjamin J. Wheeler.

In 2023, she completed a Master of Science at the University of Otago with the thesis 'Sleep, Psychological Health, and School Start Times in New Zealand Adolescents.'