Rate My Professor Phillipa Barnes

Phillipa Barnes is a Research Fellow in the Department of Medicine at the University of Otago, Wellington. She holds a BA and a DPH. Her main research interests focus on respiratory and allergic disease health in children. Throughout her career, she has contributed to significant projects including a prospective infant cohort study aimed at identifying childhood risk factors for asthma and allergies, a randomised controlled trial of probiotics in the prevention of eczema, and a study comparing exhaled nitric oxide measurements from the Medisoft HypAir FENO and Aerocrine NIOX analysers. Currently, she works on three Health Research Council-funded initiatives: the HOME Study, which examines housing factors associated with new-onset wheezing in children; the Probiotics in Pregnancy study, investigating whether probiotics administered to mothers early in pregnancy prevent eczema in babies; and the Rhino Study, evaluating simple interventions to children's bedroom environments to reduce rhinovirus infections.

Barnes has co-authored numerous publications in peer-reviewed journals. Key works include 'Bedding materials and early infant wheezing: A randomised controlled trial' (2025), 'The cost of achieving healthy temperatures in children's bedrooms: Evidence from New Zealand' (2022), 'Viruses associated with acute respiratory infection in a community-based cohort of healthy NZ children' (2019), 'Maternal supplementation alone with Lactobacillus rhamnosus HN001 during pregnancy and breastfeeding does not reduce infant eczema' (2018), 'Indoor visible mold and mold odor are associated with new-onset childhood wheeze in a dose-dependent manner' (2017), 'The Probiotics in Pregnancy Study (PiP Study): rationale and design of a double-blind randomised controlled trial' (2016), 'Breastfeeding protects against current asthma up to 6 years of age' (2012), 'Asthma, atopy and exhaled nitric oxide in a cohort of 6-yr-old New Zealand children' (2012), 'Selenium Status and Allergic Disease in a Cohort of New Zealand Children' (2011), 'Measure of Exhaled Nitric Oxide in a General Population Sample: A Comparison of the Medisoft HypAir FENO and Aerocrine NIOX Analyzers' (2011), and 'A differential effect of two probiotics in the prevention of eczema and atopy: a double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial' (2008), among others from the New Zealand Asthma and Allergy Cohort Study Group.