Rate My Professor Laura Appleton

Laura Appleton serves as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Paediatrics at the University of Otago, Christchurch, within the Division of Health Sciences. She is concurrently a PhD candidate in Paediatrics and Child Health and acts as Assistant Research Fellow for the Crohn's and Colitis in Children Study. This ongoing research initiative gathers comprehensive data on the diagnostic features, clinical presentation patterns, family history, disease activity, progression, and long-term outcomes of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in children initially from New Zealand's South Island, with expansion to nationwide recruitment. The study employs regular assessments, including three-monthly reviews in the first year followed by six-monthly intervals, and analyzes serial stool samples for faecal inflammatory biomarkers to establish reliable predictors of disease course and response to therapy.

Appleton's academic work focuses on paediatric gastroenterology, particularly paediatric inflammatory bowel disease such as Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. Her contributions examine non-invasive biomarkers for monitoring disease activity, including fecal myeloperoxidase and calprotectin levels, serum oncostatin M as a predictor of mucosal healing, and the associations between granulomata presence and disease phenotypes or outcomes. She has also explored vitamin D therapy efficacy, point prevalence of paediatric IBD in New Zealand, age-dependent biomarker variations in cystic fibrosis and IBD patients, and dietary interventions like exclusive enteral nutrition. Key publications include 'Fecal Myeloperoxidase Levels Reflect Disease Activity in Children With Inflammatory Bowel Disease' (Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, 2024), 'Children With Cystic Fibrosis Have Elevated Levels of Fecal Myeloperoxidase' (Journal of Cystic Fibrosis, 2022), 'Editorial: serum oncostatin M at baseline predicts mucosal healing in Crohn's disease patients treated with infliximab' (Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics, 2020), 'Associations between the Presence of Granulomata and Disease Phenotype and Outcomes in Children Diagnosed with Crohn's Disease' (Gastrointestinal Disorders, 2020), 'Vitamin D therapy in children with inflammatory bowel disease: A systematic review' (World Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, 2019), 'Point Prevalence of Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease in New Zealand' (Inflammatory Intestinal Diseases, 2017), and 'Re: A Meta-Analysis of the Clinical Use of Curcumin for Irritable Bowel Syndrome' (Journal of Clinical Medicine, 2019). Appleton holds a BSc qualification.