Rate My Professor Steve Withington

Dr. Steve Withington serves as Senior Professional Practice Fellow at the University of Otago's Centre for Rural Health in the Faculty of Medicine, where he co-convenes the paper GENA729 Medical Specialties in Rural Hospitals. He is also faculty for the Rural Interprofessional Simulation Course and an instructor for Advanced Paediatric Life Support courses. Holding qualifications of PGDipPubH, MBChB from the University of Otago, MTh, FRACP, and FDRHMNZ, Withington practices as a Rural Hospital Specialist and Consultant Physician at Ashburton Hospital. His academic and clinical career spans infectious diseases and rural health, with early work on nosocomial infections such as pneumonia at Christchurch Hospital (New Zealand Medical Journal, 2000) and invasive aspergillosis (Journal of Hospital Infection, 1998).

Withington has conducted extensive research on leprosy, contributing chapters like 'Leprosy' in Manson’s Tropical Diseases, 22nd Edition (2009), and peer-reviewed articles including 'Steroid prophylaxis for prevention of nerve function impairment in leprosy: randomised placebo controlled trial (TRIPOD 1)' in BMJ (2004), multiple studies in Leprosy Review on nerve function impairment, reactions, socio-economic factors, and treatment delays (2003-2005), and 'Effectiveness of single dose rifampicin in preventing leprosy' in BMJ (2008). His recent publications address rural health disparities in New Zealand, such as 'A retrospective observational study examining interhospital transfers from six New Zealand rural hospitals in 2019' in Australian Journal of Rural Health (2023), 'Rural youth in distress? Youth self-harm presentations to a rural hospital over 10 years' (2019), 'Exploring the response to the Covid-19 pandemic at the rural hospital-base hospital interface' in New Zealand Medical Journal (2021), and 'Rural urban differences in receipt of radiation oncology services for breast, prostate and lung cancer by ethnicity' in Journal of Medical Imaging & Radiation Oncology (2026). He has presented on radiation oncology utilisation by rural cancer patients at the National Rural Health Conference (2025). Additionally, Withington serves as a Trustee of the Stepping Stone Trust in Christchurch and has contributed to an international textbook chapter on mothers and children with leprosy.