Staff members

Nigel Dickson - Director
MBBS DipEpid(London) MRCP(UK) FRACP FAFPHM

Nigel has worked in the field of HIV/AIDS epidemiology since 1990, initially as Senior Research Fellow and then as Director of the AIDS Epidemiology. He has been responsible for the regular collection, analysis and interpretation of epidemiological information on HIV/AIDS in New Zealand that has been used extensively in the development of public health policy. 

Co-director of the New Zealand Paediatric Surveillance Unit.

Co-investigator in GAPSS—the Gay Auckland Periodic Sex Surveys—that have collected information on sexual behaviour among MSM in Auckland on five occasions since 2002.

He has also been studying sexual behaviour and reproductive health in the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study since 1990, that this year is completing its age 38 assessment.

Ms Sue McAllister - Research Officer
RN MPH

Sue trained as a nurse and after working for a number of years in community health projects in Nepal, returned to New Zealand to complete a Master's in public health. She commenced her current position as research officer with the AEG in 2000 in which she is responsible for management of the national HIV and AIDS database.

As well as this, Sue co-ordinated the 2005-2006 Unlinked Anonymous Prevalence Study, undertakes interviews for the Ante-natal HIV "Assessment of the impact of non-negative results", and has been involved in other research projects within the Department of Preventive and Social Medicine.

She is currently working on a PhD looking at socio-economic outcomes of people in New Zealand disabled as a result of a stroke compared to people disabled as a result of an injury.

Peter Saxton - Postdoctoral Research Fellow
BSocSci(Dist) MPhil(Dist) PhD

Peter has worked full-time in HIV variously engaged in behavioural research, epidemiology, HIV prevention, public policy, and advocacy since 1997. He has spent most of this time helping to improve the community response to HIV infection among men who have sex with men (MSM) through the New Zealand AIDS Foundation, the country’s peak HIV NGO. An early interest in the connection between sexual orientation, health, and human rights complemented the organisation’s Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion framework, and this led quickly into identifying research needs to support the HIV prevention programme.

From 2001 Peter led the development and expansion of New Zealand’s first ongoing behavioural surveillance programme among MSM. Soon after, he supported this with an in-depth examination of HIV epidemiology when diagnoses among MSM increased from 2002. These research threads culminated in the production of his PhD thesis in public health which was aimed at better understanding the behavioural and epidemiological drivers behind the surge in diagnoses, and making recommendations for prevention.

Peter's current interests include methodological innovations in behavioural surveillance, HIV epidemiology, sexual network research, and improving HIV prevention among MSM by better integrating epidemiology, behavioural research, and strategic analysis in HIV health promotion.

Professor Charlotte Paul - Advisor

Charlotte Paul trained in medicine, public health, and epidemiology at the University of Otago. She worked in the department of Preventive and Social Medicine from 1981 to 2008 when she retired.

Since 2008 she has continued to work part-time teaching and supervising research students. Her main research fields were initially in the epidemiology and control of women's cancers and contraceptive safety. More recently she has worked on the epidemiology of HIV /AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections, on sexual behaviour, and on socioeconomic consequences of chronic illness. She also has a long-standing interest in research ethics.

She is a former co-Director of the AIDS Epidemiology Group and is now an advisor to the Group.

Dr Katrina Sharples - Biostatistician
MSc(Auck) PhD(Wash)

Katrina is a biostatictician who has worked in conjunction with many different researchers and on different areas of research in Preventive Medicine and other disciplines including the AIDS Epidemiology Group.

Adrian Ludlam - Assistant Research Fellow
BSc(Hons) MSc

Adrian completed his undergraduate in Biology at Imperial College London in 2009, specialising in Microbiology and Immunology. Choosing to follow his interest in infectious disease, he undertook an MSc in the Control of Infectious Diseases at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, graduating in 2010, where he focused his studies on Epidemiology and Sexual Health.

He is currently working with the AIDS Epidemiology Group on the GAPSS and GOSS data sets, and sexual health among men who have sex with men.

Nathan Lachowsky - Visiting Graduate Student
PhD Candidate (Epidemiology)
University of Guelph
Canada Vanier Canada Graduate Scholar