Rate My Professor Susan Jack

Dr Susan Jack is an Honorary Senior Lecturer in the Department of Public Health at the University of Otago. She earned her MBChB from the University of Otago, a Postgraduate Diploma in Paediatrics from the University of Auckland, a Master of Public Health and Tropical Medicine from James Cook University, Australia, and a PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Otago. She is also a Fellow of the New Zealand College of Public Health Medicine (FNZCPHM). Her extensive career includes living in Phnom Penh, Cambodia from 1994 to 2010, where she helped establish a non-governmental organisation focused on community health and development for urban poor communities. She provided consultancy services for the World Health Organization (WHO), USAID, and Tearfund UK in Cambodia and other Asian countries, and later served four years at the WHO Cambodia office as medical officer for Child Survival and acting team leader for the Maternal, Child Health, and Nutrition team. Upon returning to New Zealand in late 2010, she completed her PhD, undertook Public Health Physician training, and continued WHO consultancy in maternal and child health in the Solomon Islands. She leads Global Health Link Otago, the service arm of the University of Otago's Centre for International Health.

Dr Jack's research interests encompass anaemia and micronutrient deficiencies, child under-nutrition, effectiveness of maternal and child health interventions, and translating evidence into policy, strategy, implementation, and evaluation of public health programmes in under-resourced settings. Notable publications include 'Impact of health system governance on healthcare quality in low-income and middle-income countries: a scoping review' (BMJ Open, 2023, with Joby George et al.), 'Methodology and cohort characteristics of the Aotearoa New Zealand Rheumatic Heart Disease Registry' (BMJ Open, 2022, with E. Tilton et al.), 'Medical treatment for rheumatic heart disease: A narrative review' (Heart, Lung & Circulation, 2022, with N.N. Rentta et al.), and 'Primary prevention of rheumatic fever in the 21st century' (International Journal of Epidemiology, 2018). Her contributions have advanced public health knowledge, particularly in nutrition, infectious diseases, and global health, with her work cited over 900 times.