Rate My Professor Lindsay Robertson

Lindsay Robertson, PhD, is a Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Preventive and Social Medicine within the Dunedin School of Medicine at the University of Otago. She earned her undergraduate degree in psychology and pursued postgraduate studies in public health at the same institution, completing a Postgraduate Diploma in Public Health, a Master of Public Health, and a PhD in 2017. Her doctoral research examined tobacco retail policies in New Zealand, drawing on international evidence of their effectiveness, assessing stakeholder acceptability, and modeling their potential impact on smoking prevalence to support the Smokefree Aotearoa 2025 goal.

Prior to her doctoral studies, Robertson worked for four years as a mental health promotion advisor at a local public health unit. Her research focuses on tobacco control, encompassing point-of-sale tobacco promotion, smokers' experiences switching to vaping and heated tobacco products, commercial determinants of health, and tobacco industry political activity. She has produced impactful publications, including the systematic review "A systematic review on the impact of point-of-sale tobacco promotion on smoking" (2015, Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 266 citations), "Point-of-sale tobacco promotion and youth smoking: a meta-analysis" (2016, Tobacco Control, 174 citations), "Childhood and adolescent television viewing and antisocial behavior in early adulthood" (2013, Pediatrics, 216 citations), and "Defining and conceptualising the commercial determinants of health" (2023, The Lancet). Affiliated with ASPIRE 2025 at the University of Otago and the Tobacco Control Research Group at the University of Bath, her work has garnered over 1,300 citations. In 2020, she was awarded a Heart Foundation New Zealand grant.