Rate My Professor Philippa Cross

Dr Philippa Cross serves as a Senior Professional Practice Fellow at the University of Otago's Centre for Rural Health, located within the Faculty of Medicine in the Health Sciences Division. She is the Paper Co-convener for GENA 729, Surgical Specialties in Rural Settings, a distance learning paper that combines remote and in-person teaching to address medical specialties relevant to rural practice. Dr Cross holds the qualifications MBChB, BHB, BSocSc, and PGDipRPHP. In her clinical practice, she works as a Rural Hospital Physician and Clinical Lead at Whakatane Hospital. Her affiliations include Ngati Hinemanu, Ngati Paki, and Ngati Pukenga iwi. Dr Cross has contributed to rural health discourse through her co-authorship of the article 'Postcards from the edge,' published in the Journal of Primary Health Care in 2020, which features reflective accounts from rural health professionals during the initial COVID-19 lockdown period in New Zealand.

Dr Philippa Cross has been actively involved in professional leadership within general practice and rural medicine. She represented the Registrars' Chapter on the board of the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners from November 2020 to September 2021. Her work supports the rural postgraduate programme at the Centre for Rural Health, emphasizing education and training for rural health practitioners. Dr Cross is recognized for her commitment to rural medical workforce development and medical education, as noted in connection with her role on the conference committee for the WONCA World Rural Health Conference 2026. Through her dual roles in clinical practice and academia, she bridges hospital-based care in rural settings with university-level teaching and programme development at the University of Otago.