Rate My Professor Michael Maze

Associate Professor Michael Maze is a respiratory and infectious diseases physician serving as Associate Professor in Medicine at the University of Otago, Christchurch, within the Faculty of Medicine. He holds the qualifications MB ChB, DCH, DTM&H, PhD, and FRACP. Maze began his PhD in 2015 at the Centre for International Health, University of Otago, funded by the Frances Cotter Memorial Scholarship from the Dunedin School of Medicine. His thesis investigated the impact and social ecology of leptospirosis in northern Tanzania, where he has been based for research. His research encompasses clinical and epidemiological studies in New Zealand and low- and middle-income countries, focusing on zoonotic diseases—particularly leptospirosis—and respiratory infections including pneumonia, Legionnaires’ disease, and pleural infection. He is co-director of the One Health Aotearoa research institute and a member of the Infection Group at University of Otago Christchurch and the Otago Global Health Institute.

In his educational roles, Maze chairs the University of Otago Education Committee, co-convenes the fourth-year medicine module, and teaches medical students during their fourth through sixth years of training. He supervises postgraduate research students and is open to supervising high-performing new candidates. Maze has produced significant publications advancing infectious disease knowledge. Key works include "The epidemiology of febrile illness in sub-Saharan Africa: implications for diagnosis and management" (Clinical Microbiology and Infection, 2018), "Risk factors for human acute leptospirosis in northern Tanzania" (PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 2018), "Impact of routine systematic polymerase chain reaction testing on case finding for Legionnaires’ disease: a pre–post comparison study" (Clinical Infectious Diseases, 2013), "Risk factors for human brucellosis in northern Tanzania" (American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 2017), and "Legionnaires' disease caused by Legionella longbeachae: Clinical features and outcomes of 107 cases from an endemic area" (Respirology, 2016). Recent publications cover Escherichia coli population structure (Journal of Infectious Diseases, 2025) and COVID-19 outcomes in hospitalised adults (Internal Medicine Journal, 2025).