Rate My Professor Sharla McTavish

Sharla McTavish is a Tangata Tiriti PhD candidate in the Department of Public Health at the University of Otago, Wellington campus (Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka, Pōneke). She holds a Master of Science degree and previously served as a Technician at the Centre for Biomolecular Sciences, University of Nottingham, from October 2013 to September 2014. Currently affiliated with the Health Environment & Infection Research Unit (HEIRU) and the Infectious Disease Research group, her PhD project investigates the impact of severe sepsis in Aotearoa New Zealand, focusing on epidemiology, trends, and health inequities. Her research interests encompass public health, epidemiology, infectious diseases, sepsis, and One Health approaches. McTavish possesses expertise in molecular techniques including PCR, DNA sequencing, cell culture, and bacterial genomics.

McTavish has made notable contributions to microbiology and public health research through numerous publications. She led the 2025 study 'Temporal trends in sepsis hospitalisations and mortality in Aotearoa New Zealand, 2000–2019,' published in The Lancet Regional Health – Western Pacific, documenting a 78% rise in hospitalisations from 217 to 386 per 100,000 people, alongside persistent inequities where Māori and Pacific peoples faced 1.7- and 2.3-fold higher hospitalisation rates and elevated mortality risks compared to other groups. Another key paper, 'Disparities in patient mortality following intensive care admission due to adult community-acquired sepsis in Aotearoa New Zealand' (New Zealand Medical Journal, 2025), further examined these gaps. Earlier works include 'Detection and whole genome sequence analysis of an enterovirus 68 cluster' (Virology Journal, 2013) and highly cited articles such as 'Multilocus Sequence Typing as a Replacement for Serotyping in Salmonella enterica' (PLoS Pathogens, 2012; 885 citations) and 'The Genome Sequence of the Rumen Methanogen Methanobrevibacter ruminantium Reveals New Possibilities for Controlling Ruminant Methane Emissions' (PLoS ONE, 2010; 426 citations). She has served on the One Health Aotearoa symposium organising committee for 2022, 2023, and 2024. With over 1,200 citations, her scholarship underscores the sepsis burden—accounting for 260,000 hospitalisations and 27,400 deaths from 2000–2019—and calls for targeted interventions amid ageing populations and rising chronic conditions.