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David Murdoch

Co-leader of The Infection Group
Co-director of One Health Aotearoa
Vice-Chancellor Designate

MB ChB, MD (Otago), MSc (Lond), DTM&H (Liv), FRACP, FRCPA, FFSc(RCPA)

Email david.murdoch@otago.ac.nz
Tel +64 3 556 7791

Current roles

Professor David Murdoch is the co-leader of The Infection Group, the co-director of One Health Aotearoa, a Senior Associate in the Department of International Health at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, and a clinical microbiologist at Canterbury Health Laboratories.

Professor Murdoch served as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Otago from February 2022 to March 2023.

Research interests

David's main research interests are the epidemiology, diagnosis and prevention of respiratory tract infections, pneumococcal disease, legionellosis, bloodstream infections, and the role of vitamin D in infectious diseases.

He has a particular interest in the microbial aetiology of pneumonia, and is the Laboratory Director of the Pneumonia Etiology Research for Child Health (PERCH) project which is focused on determining the causes of severe pneumonia in young children from developing countries. David has ongoing projects based in nine countries in Africa and Asia.

Publications

Jun, H., Alizadeh, H., Chambers, S. T., Slow, S., Hampton, J., Murdoch, D., & Scott-Thomas, A. (2026). Effect of copper spiked potting mix on the emergence and growth of viola and cabbages. HortScience, 61(2), 452-456. doi: 10.21273/HORTSCI19074-25 Journal - Research Article

Murdoch, D. (2025, September). Climate change and infectious diseases risks in New Zealand. Verbal presentation at the Aotearoa New Zealand Immunisation Conference, Hamilton, New Zealand. Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs

Oo, W. T., Bowhay, T. R., Myat, T. O., Htike, W. W., Lwin, K. T., Blacksell, S. D., … Ussher, J. E., Murdoch, D. R., … Crump, J. A. (2025). Estimating scrub typhus and murine typhus incidence among adolescents and adults in Yangon, Myanmar. Tropical Medicine & International Health, 30(9), 978-986. doi: 10.1111/tmi.70010 Journal - Research Article

Bowhay, T. R., Myat, T. O., Oo, W. T., Mone, H. K., Sharples, K. J., Robinson, M. T., … Ussher, J. E., Murdoch, D. R., … Crump, J. A. (2025). Prevalence and risk factors for murine typhus, scrub typhus and spotted fever group rickettsioses among adolescent and adult patients presenting to Yangon General Hospital, Yangon, Myanmar. Tropical Medicine & International Health, 30(9), 966-977. doi: 10.1111/tmi.70009 Journal - Research Article

Maze, M. J., Rodgers, H., Williman, J., Anstey, R., Best, E., Bhally, H., … Dummer, J., Epton, M., … Hancox, R. J., … Murdoch, D. R., … Raymond, N., … Storer, M., Walls, T., … Wright, K. (2025). Variation in clinical presentation, complications and outcomes for Māori and Pacific peoples among hospitalised adults with COVID-19 in 2022, Aotearoa New Zealand. Internal Medicine Journal, 55(8), 1339-1349. doi: 10.1111/imj.70114 Journal - Research Article

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