Rate My Professor Kevin Pringle

Professor Kevin Pringle is an Emeritus Professor and Honorary Professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Women’s Health at the University of Otago, Wellington, within the Medicine faculty. He earned his MBChB from the University of Otago in 1970 and holds FRACS qualifications. After training as a paediatric surgeon, Pringle spent seven years at the University of Iowa in the United States, advancing to Associate Professor of Pediatric Surgery. He returned to New Zealand in 1987 as Senior Lecturer in Paediatric Surgery at the Wellington School of Medicine and Health Sciences, with a joint appointment as Consultant Paediatric Surgeon at Wellington Hospital. Promoted to Professor of Paediatric Surgery in 2000, he established the first specialist paediatric surgical service in Wellington and served as Clinical Leader in Paediatric Surgery at Capital and Coast District Health Board until retiring from clinical practice in July 2015. Pringle also headed the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Otago, Wellington, from 2000 to 2014.

Pringle’s research specializations include fetal lung and kidney development, paediatric surgery, neonatal surgery, paediatric urology, and fetal diagnosis and therapy, including fetal surgery. He co-founded the journal Fetal Diagnosis and Therapy, collaborated on numerous projects with Japanese colleagues leading to joint publications, and is a founding member of the International Fetal Medicine and Surgery Society. He served as President of the Pacific Association of Pediatric Surgeons. From 1992 to 1998, he traveled to Fiji via the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade to treat infants and children with congenital anomalies, providing perioperative and emergency care. In 2016, he received the Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to paediatric surgery. Key publications include Childhood cholecystectomy in New Zealand: A multicenter study (2016, Journal of Pediatric Surgery) and Rising incidence of gastroschisis and exomphalos in New Zealand (2009, Journal of Pediatric Surgery).