Rate My Professor Mercedes Burnside

Dr. Mercedes Burnside is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Paediatrics at the University of Otago, Christchurch, within the Faculty of Medicine. An alumnus of the University of Otago, she obtained her undergraduate medical degree there and completed her PhD in 2023 titled 'Open-source automated insulin delivery in type 1 diabetes: Equitable utilisation of advanced diabetes technologies to address pervasive inequities in diabetes health outcomes.' She underwent specialised training in paediatrics at Christchurch Hospital, developing an interest in paediatric diabetes and endocrinology, and completed paediatric endocrinology training at Perth Children's Hospital. Burnside specializes in paediatric diabetes and endocrinology, maintaining a clinical interest in innovative diabetes therapies and committing to address health outcome inequities through equitable access to advanced diabetes solutions.

Her research centers on type 1 diabetes management in children, encompassing automated insulin delivery systems, continuous glucose monitoring, open-source technologies, and health equity particularly for Māori children and adolescents. Notable publications include 'Emergent inequity of glycaemic metrics for Māori children with type 1 diabetes is negated by early use of continuous glucose monitoring' (2024, New Zealand Medical Journal), 'Children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes in Aotearoa New Zealand: An online survey of workforce and outcomes 2021' (2024, Journal of Paediatrics & Child Health), 'Interviews with Indigenous Māori with type 1 diabetes using open-source automated insulin delivery in the CREATE randomised trial' (2023), 'Prevalence and incidence of type 1 diabetes in children aged 0–14 years old in New Zealand in 2021' (2023, Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health), 'New tubeless, automated insulin pump improves HbA1c and time in pre-defined glucose range' (2022, The Journal of Pediatrics), and 'Do-It-Yourself Automated Insulin Delivery: A Leading Example of the Democratization of Medicine' (2019, Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology). She holds a Clinical Research Training Fellowship for the CREATE Trial investigating community-derived automated insulin delivery.