Rate My Professor Lani Teddy

Lani Teddy (Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāi Te Rangi), holder of a Master of Social Sciences from the University of Waikato (2003), serves as a Research Fellow in the Department of Public Health, University of Otago, Wellington, within the Division of Health Sciences. She holds the position of Research Manager for the Burden of Disease Epidemiology, Equity and Cost-Effectiveness (BODE) programme and is affiliated with Te Rōpū Rangahau Hauora a Eru Pōmare and ASPIRE Aotearoa. Teddy's research utilizes Indigenous methodologies to examine Māori experiences and perceptions of commercial tobacco and nicotine products. She advocates for tobacco control policies that promote Māori wellbeing, guided by the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and Māori-defined values. Her work contributes to understanding key public health issues, including responses to tobacco packaging warnings, youth perceptions of smoke-free policies, efficacy labeling on tobacco products, and the expansion of nicotine marketplaces in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Teddy has co-authored multiple peer-reviewed publications in prominent journals. Notable works include 'Defining the commercial tobacco industry in a changing nicotine landscape' (Maddox et al., Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 2026), 'A hopeful journey: responses to efficacy labels from people using RYO tobacco in Aotearoa New Zealand' (Teddy et al., Tobacco Control, 2025), 'How do people who smoke respond to novel tobacco pack warnings? Two cross-sectional studies from Aotearoa New Zealand' (Gendall et al., Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 2025), 'Balancing fear with hope: A more effective way of promoting smoking cessation?' (Hoek & Teddy, The Briefing, 2025), 'Colonial harm in new packaging: Indigenous critiques of the tobacco industry's "harm reduction" rhetoric' (Maddox et al., Health Promotion International, 2025), 'How do New Zealand youth perceive the smoke-free generation policy? A qualitative analysis' (Hoek et al., Tobacco Control, 2024), and 'Resisting industry narratives: guidance to avoid tobacco and nicotine industry framing' (Maddox et al., Health Promotion International, 2024). These contributions inform tobacco endgame strategies, including Smokefree 2025 goals, and address vaping prevalence among youth and stigma associated with nicotine addiction.