Rate My Professor Katharina Blattner

Associate Professor Katharina Blattner holds a position in the Department of General Practice and Rural Health at the University of Otago, where she is based in Hokianga in New Zealand's far north for her clinical and academic roles. She works as a rural doctor at Hauora Hokianga, Rawene Hospital, providing care across general practice and rural hospital medicine scopes. Additionally, she collaborates with the Cook Islands and Niue Ministries of Health to build capacity and workforce in primary health care through her Pacific Nations Liaison role at Va’a o Tautai – Centre for Pacific Health. Her qualifications include MBChB, MHealSc (2019, thesis titled "The impact of the Rural Hospital Medicine vocational scope on the Hokianga Health Service"), FRNZCGP(Dist), FDRHMNZ(Dist), PGDipRPHP, PGCertCPU, and PGDipMSM. Blattner serves as Director of the Rural Health Research Network, Convenor of the Rural Postgraduate Programme at the Centre for Rural Health, and supervises higher-degree students, rural hospital and GP registrars for RNZCGP, and fifth-year students in the rural-regional programme from the University of Otago and University of Auckland.

Her research specializations encompass rural and remote health, with interests in improving the quality of health services and access for rural remote communities, continuing education and vocational training for rural remote-based health professionals, enhancing academic support for postgraduate students and faculty at geographical distance from the main campus, and qualitative research. She is Associate Editor of the Rural and Remote Health journal and a member of Hauora Taiwhenua Rural Health Network. Key publications include "What makes for a stable senior rural hospital medical workforce? A qualitative case study" (Clay, Stokes, & Blattner, Australian Journal of Rural Health, 2025); "Rural hospital contributions to community health: Community perspectives from a New Zealand rural hospital" (Ram, Carlisle, Larkins, & Blattner, Journal of Primary Health Care, 2024); "The place of rural hospitals in New Zealand's health system: an exploratory qualitative study" (Blattner et al., 2023); and conference presentations such as "He Aroka Uratā: What can we learn from factors underpinning the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccination programme and pandemic response in different rural communities" (RNZCGP Conference, 2024). Her contributions advance rural health service delivery, workforce development, and education in New Zealand and the Pacific.