Rate My Professor Sarah McKenzie

Dr. Sarah McKenzie is a Senior Research Fellow in the Suicide and Mental Health Research Group, Department of Psychological Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Otago, Wellington. She obtained her BSc (Hons) from the University of Glasgow (1995–1999), Master of Public Health (MPH) from the University of Otago (2009), and PhD in Public Health from the University of Otago (2013–2017). Her PhD thesis, titled "Understanding Men's Mental Health: Gender Relations and Mental Well-Being," established her expertise in gender dynamics and mental health.

Dr. McKenzie's research specializations include men’s mental health and suicide prevention, men’s concussion and recovery, social determinants of mental health, mental health equity, critical suicidology, sociological methodology and research methods, arts-based and storytelling research methods, masculinities, and gender relations. She supervises PhD students such as Angie Hoskins on the effect of the menstrual cycle on suicide and suicidal behaviours, Anna von Tunzelman on binge-drinking as deliberate self-harm, and Renan Lopes de Lyra on suicide exposure among first responders. Her notable projects encompass "Picturing the invisible: a photovoice study of men’s lived experiences of concussion recovery" (Lotteries Health funding), "Through the Eyes of Men: a photovoice study of men’s mental distress" (Marsden Fast-Start funding), the Reducing Male Suicide Research Excellence Cluster (University of British Columbia), and "Men Building Intimate Partner Relationships" (UBC Men’s Health Program). Key publications are McKenzie, S. K., et al. (2025). "Home as a place of refuge, despair, and self-care for men living with mental health challenges." Qualitative Health Research; McKenzie, S., et al. (2024). "Calling for action on suicide prevention in Aotearoa." The Briefing; McKenzie, S. K., et al. (2024). "Understanding men's lived experience of mental distress through metaphors." American Journal of Men's Health, 18(3); McKenzie, S. K., et al. (2023). "Men's accounts of anxiety: A photovoice study." SSM Qualitative Research in Health, 4, 100356; McKenzie, S. K., et al. (2023). "Colonization drives silence and inequities in men’s mental illness." Nature Mental Health, 1, 609.