Shaun Counsell
MB ChB, FRNZCGP, FRNZCUC, PGDipTravMed
Shaun is a GP / Urgent Care doctor who splits his time between working for the university, a travel medicine service and an urgent care clinic. In recent years he has worked in the Solomon Islands and in other Pacific countries.
He has a special interest in tuberculosis, as is working on a Master's thesis relating to TB and migration. Shaun has completed the PG Diploma of Travel Medicine and co-convenes GENA719 Tropical Infectious Disease and PRHC702 Wilderness & Expedition Medicine.
In his spare time he enjoys running, climbing and spending time with his young children.
Lesley Gray
FFPH, MPH, MSc, PGCertEd, FETC
Lesley is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Primary Health Care and General Practice, a registered Public Health Specialist and Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health (UK). Lesley convenes the Obesity Prevention and Management paper.
She also convenes undergraduate programmes with 3rd and 6th year medical students. Lesley's background is public health and interprofessional collaboration, with research interests in risk communication, health behaviour, discrimination, stigma and bias.
Her main research focus is obesity in clinical practice including quality, safety and risk reduction concerning people with extreme obesity.
Jonathan Kennedy
MB ChB, FRNZCGP, DPH, DCH, Dip Obs, BSc
Jonathan is a general practitioner at Newtown Union Health Service in Wellington, and a senior lecturer at the University of Otago, Wellington, Department of Primary Health Care and General Practice.
He has had a special interest in the delivery of primary care to refugees and their family members since working with Médecins Sans Frontières in South Sudan and Sri Lanka in the early 2000s.
He has been the designated doctor for the refugee team at Newtown Union Health Service since 2005, coordinating in conjunction with the refugee team nurse and social worker, care and investigations for newly arrived and established refugees and their families.
Vicky Noble
RN BA(Hons) MA(App)
Vicky is a Professional Practice Fellow and co-convenes PRHC 703 Strategy and Leadership in Primary Health Care. She is a highly qualified and experienced health care professional with a diverse range of skills, knowledge, expertise and experience that spans New Zealand's health sector.
Vicky has a strong professional interest in health systems, whole-of-healthcare sector strategic planning and development, project management and policy development.
Vicky has worked in senior roles at DHBs, NGOs, PHOs and with Tertiary Education Providers. She was Director of Nursing, Primary Health Care and Integrated Care at Capital and Coast DHB from 2008-2015.
More recently she has worked at Ara Poutama Corrections where she was a Principal Health Advisor from 2015-2019 and is currently a Clinical Inspector in the Chief Inspectorate's Office.
Maria Stubbe
DipTESL, NZDipTchg, PhD
Maria is an Associate Professor and Co-Director of the Applied Research on Communication in Health (ARCH) Group. She is a sociolinguist and discourse analyst by training, and has a particular interest in multidisciplinary health services research, and in multi-method and qualitative methodologies.
She has supervised a number of Masters and PhD projects and teaches on the postgraduate programme within the department. Maria's recent research includes a project tracking interactions between diabetes patients and primary care practitioners, analyses of clinical decision-making, medical notes, lifestyle and prescribing talk in routine GP and specialist consultations, and a study of communication in interpreted health encounters.
Jenny Visser
BSc, MB ChB, FRNZCGP, PGDiplomaTravMed, MTraveMed
Jenny is a general practitioner who now specialises in travel medicine. She worked as a full time GP in Ngaio, Wellington for 12 years until 2004, when clinical and academic Travel Medicine started to take more of her time.
She is now a Senior Lecturer in Travel Medicine in the Department of Primary Health Care and General Practice, working approximately half time in the department and half time in clinical Travel Medicine at The Travel Doctor TMVC in Wellington.
Jenny directs the Postgraduate Travel Medicine Programme, convenes the papers in Travel Medicine and Wilderness and Expedition Medicine, and co-convenes the Tropical Infectious Disease paper.
Jenny has worked in many places: she has been medical officer on the NIWA research vessel RV Tangaroa, travelling to Antarctica for six summers, she spent a season volunteering at a high altitude Rescue Post in Nepal in 2009 and was the doctor to a film crew in Bougainville in 2011.
More recently she has been team leader/doctor on expeditions to Kilimanjaro, China and Fiji. She has been a long time medical adviser for Wellington and National Land Search and Rescue. And when she is not travelling she is mountain biking or enjoying many other outdoor sports.
Claire Wong
RN, MSc, FFTM RCPS (Glasg), FISTM
CTH©
Claire is a clinical lecturer on the Travel Medicine papers in the Department of Primary Health Care and General Practice.
A Registered Nurse, Claire has specialised in the field of Travel Medicine since 1996 and currently works for Worldwise Travellers Health Centre in Palmerston North.
Claire hails from the UK where her travel medicine career began but has now settled permanently in New Zealand. Along the way she has gained a MSc and was recently awarded Fellowship of the International Society of Travel Medicine.
When not practicing travel medicine Claire can generally be found with her husband surrounded by their many animals, usually cuddling a chicken.