Rate My Professor Mei-Ling Blank

Mei-Ling Blank is a Research Fellow in the Department of Public Health (Dunedin) within the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Otago. Her research summary is public health, with specific interests in drug safety issues, alcohol use, spirituality and health, and tobacco control. She contributes to the New Zealand Pharmacovigilance Centre and the Pharmacoepidemiology Research Network, and is a member of the Social and Behavioural Research Unit as a Principal Investigator. Blank earned her Master of Public Health degree from the University of Otago, completing a thesis on "Proton Pump Inhibitors and Interstitial Nephritis."

Her scholarly output includes peer-reviewed journal articles primarily in tobacco control and public health interventions. Recent publications are: Blank, M.-L., & McNoe, B. (2026). A census of sun protective shading at outdoor school pools in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand; Teddy, L., Ozarka, E., Blank, M.-L., Waa, A., & Hoek, J. (2025). A hopeful journey: Responses to efficacy labels from people using RYO tobacco in Aotearoa New Zealand. Tobacco Control; Blank, M.-L., Donald, S., & Parkin, L. (2025). Small for gestational age coded diagnoses in Aotearoa New Zealand's administrative health datasets: A validation study. Health Science Reports; Ozarka, E., Teddy, L., Blank, M.-L., Waa, A., & Hoek, J. (2025). Managing fear responses: A qualitative analysis of pictorial warning labels five years post-plain packaging. Nicotine & Tobacco Research. Earlier notable papers include Blank, M.-L., & Hoek, J. (2023). Smoking, vaping and drinking: A qualitative analysis of Aotearoa New Zealand young adults who tried e-cigarettes to stop smoking tobacco. Addiction; Blank, M.-L., Hoek, J., & Gendall, P. (2020). New Zealand roll-your-own smokers' reaction to novel roll-your-own tobacco packaging warning labels. Tobacco Control; and Blank, M.-L., et al. (2021). Choice and variety-seeking of e-liquids and flavor categories by New Zealand vape shop customers. Nicotine & Tobacco Research. Blank has been recognized with the Best Research Publication award from the 2020 Otago Medical School Dunedin Campus Teaching and Research Excellence Awards and the Early Career Research Award in Preventive and Social Medicine from the Dunedin School of Medicine Departmental Awards.