Two One Health Aotearoa investigators have been recognised in the 2021 New Years Honours list.
Professor Stephen Chambers from the Department of Pathology and Biomedical Science, University of Otago, Christchurch, received the CNZM for services to infectious diseases research. Professor Chambers established the Infectious Diseases Department at Christchurch Hospital in 1987, the first such service in New Zealand outside of Auckland, and he remained Clinical Director until 2015.
For more than a decade he was the only infectious diseases physician in the South Island. He also founded and developed The Infection Group, a collaboration between the Canterbury District Health Board and the University of Otago that is now a leading infectious diseases clinical research team in New Zealand and a world leader in research on certain diseases.
Professor Michael Baker from the Department of Public Health at the University of Otago’s Wellington campus has been made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) for services to public health science.
Professor Baker is a member of the Ministry of Health’s Covid-19 Technical Advisory Group and has been at the forefront of New Zealand’s response to the pandemic, supplying expert advice to the Government, conducting research, and providing information directly to the public and the media.
Professor Baker has been a Professor of Public Health since 2013 and is Director of the Health Environment Infection Research Unit (HEIRU). He is a member of the New Zealand Science Media Centre’s Advisory Board and the World Health Organisation’s Regional Verification Commission for Measles and Rubella Elimination.