Southern honours: Prof Philippa Howden-Chapman

Prof Philippa Howden-Chapman

Prof Philippa Howden-Chapman, of the University of Otago, is a leading public health champion and an advocate for warmer and healthier housing.

She is acting head of the department of public health at the university's Wellington campus and leads two major research groups: the He Kainga Oranga/Housing and Health Research Programme and the New Zealand Centre for Sustainable Cities.

She has been actively involved in public health research, including on the social and economic determinants of inequalities in health; on health policy; and on comparative institutional arrangements in the health sector.

She was named Public Health Champion of 2006 by the Public Health Association, in recognition of her outstanding contribution to public health.

She also won the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority's Energysmart Outstanding Contribution to Sustainable Energy Award in 2007.

Last November, she also received two further national awards: the Royal Society of New Zealand's inaugural Dame Joan Metge Medal, reflecting excellence in social science, and the Liley Medal, awarded by the Health Research Council.

The medals, both awarded jointly with Auckland University scientists, honoured her ground-breaking research into housing and health, officials said.

Otago University officials said at that stage she had devoted her career to developing new ways to reduce inequalities in New Zealand and her research had led to major Government investment in sustainable housing.

She has also written extensively, and was co-author of The Impact of Economic Recession on Youth Suicide: A Comparison of New Zealand and Finland and Making of New Zealand Alcohol Policy.