Contact Details
- Phone
- +64 3 479 7582
- melissa.purnell@otago.ac.nz
- Position
- Teaching Fellow in Epidemiology and Public Health
- Department
- Department of Preventive and Social Medicine (Dunedin)
- Qualifications
- BSc MSc(Neurobiology) PGCertHealSc (Occ Health) PhD
- Research summary
- Occupational epidemiology, neurobiology, injury prevention, mental health
- Teaching
- POPH192
- Early Learning in Medicine 2
- Early Learning in Medicine 3
Research
Melissa completed her Phd in the department in 2006 while on a Health Research Council Training Fellowship. Her thesis was focused on sleep, alertness, performance and fatigue management in extended duration and irregular night shift workers.
She has worked for many years in a variety of capacities including university based researcher, private consultant to government and commercial companies, and as a science communicator, primarily in the areas of occupational health, injury prevention and mental health.
Melissa is enjoying utilising this background to inform her current full-time teaching role within the Department.