Red X iconGreen tick iconYellow tick icon
Skip to main content

Rose Crossin imageSenior Lecturer
Undergraduate Convener

BSc (Massey), BSc (Hons) (Queensland), PhD (Melbourne)

Email rose.crossin@otago.ac.nz
Tel +64 3 364 3617

Department of Public Health
University of Otago, Christchurch
PO Box 4345
Christchurch 8140

Background

Rose got her undergraduate degree in biological sciences in New Zealand before moving to Australia and working in the public sector in research and strategy roles for a number of years. Following her PhD she worked as a researcher at Monash University, and then in drug policy advocacy and research at Penington Institute, before returning home to NZ in 2020.

PhD

Rose completed her PhD with the University of Melbourne in 2018. She studied in an addiction neuroscience lab at the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, and her PhD was titled “The growth and energy balance consequences of adolescent inhalant abuse”.

Her PhD utilised pre-clinical research, epidemiological data analysis, a clinical cohort, and systematic review and meta-analysis to understand the impacts of inhalant misuse during adolescence. Her research identified previously unknown endocrine and growth consequences of inhalant misuse, and developed a novel approach for identifying inhalant misuse in adolescents.

Supervisors: Dr Jhodie Duncan (Florey Institute), Professor Andrew Lawrence (Florey Institute), Associate Professor Zane Andrews (Monash University)

Research interests

  • Alcohol and drug harm
  • Drug and alcohol policy
  • Harm reduction
  • Public health

Professional groups

  • Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs
  • International Society for the Study of Drug Policy
  • Public Health Association of New Zealand
  • Health Coalition Aotearoa

Current projects

Presentations

Petty, J., Crossin, R., McNally, S., Ryan, J. (2019). From the overdose report to a national naloxone distribution trial: an example of effective research to policy translation, oral presentation to Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and Other Drugs Conference, Hobart.

Crossin, R., Scott, D., Arunogiri, S., Smith, K., Dietze, P., Lubman, D.I. (2019). Pregabalin misuse in Australia, poster presentation at College on Problems of Drug Dependence Conference, San Antonio, Texas.

Crossin, R., Scott, D., Arunogiri, S., Smith, K., Dietze, P., Lubman, D.I. (2018). Acute harms associated with pregabalin misuse in Victoria: a 6-year examination of ambulance attendances, oral presentation to Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and Other Drugs Conference, Auckland.

Crossin, R., Scott, D., Witt, K. G., Duncan, J. R., Smith, K., & Lubman, D. I. (2018). Acute harms associated with inhalant misuse: Co-morbidities and trends relative to age and gender among ambulance attendees, oral presentation to Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and Other Drugs Conference, Auckland.

Scott, D., Crossin, R., Coomber, K., Smith, K., Miller, P., Lubman, D. I. (2018). Exploring the characteristics of family violence relative to packaged liquor outlet density using ambulance attendance data, poster presentation to Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and Other Drugs Conference, Auckland.

Crossin, R., Lawrence, A.J., Andrews, Z.B., Oldfield, B., Stefanidis, A., Pang, T., Duncan, J.R. (2017).
Adolescent inhalant abuse induces an endocrine disorder analogous to adrenal insufficiency, oral presentation to Students of Brain Research Conference, Melbourne.

Crossin, R., Lawrence, A.J., Andrews, Z.B., Oldfield, B., Stefanidis, A., Pang, T., Duncan, J.R. (2017). Characterising the metabolic phenotype in adolescent inhalant abuse: long-term changes to energy balance independent of food intake, oral presentation to Australian and New Zealand Obesity Society, Adelaide.

Crossin, R., Lawrence, A.J., Andrews, Z.B., Oldfield, B., Stefanidis, A., Pang, T., Duncan, J.R. (2017). Adolescent inhalant abuse induces a disorder analogous to adrenal insufficiency, oral presentation to Endocrine Society of Australia, Perth.

Crossin, R., Lawrence, A.J., Sims, N., Andrews, Z.B., Duncan, J.R. (2016). Adolescent inhalant abuse: a disruption to energy balance regulation masquerading as malnutrition, oral presentation to Students of Brain Research Conference, Melbourne.

Crossin, R., Lawrence, A.J., Andrews, Z.B., Duncan, J.R. (2016). Effects of adolescent inhalant abuse on growth: malnutrition or altered energy homeostasis?, poster presented to European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism, Copenhagen.

Crossin, R., Cairney, S., Lawrence, A.J., Duncan, J.R. (2015). Adolescent inhalant abuse: the use of growth as a potential diagnostic measure, oral presentation to International Conference for Neurology and Epidemiology, Gold Coast.

Crossin, R., Cairney, S., Lawrence, A.J., Duncan, J.R. (2015) Failure to thrive and growth impairment: the link to inhalant abuse, oral presentation to Youth Health Conference, Melbourne.

Publications

Kolodziej, J., Judge, M., Baker, M., Crossin, R., & Whelan, J. (2026). Safe drug laws for Aotearoa: Why our 50-year-old drug legislation needs to go. The Briefing, (24 February). Retrieved from https://www.phcc.org.nz/briefing/safer-drug-laws-aotearoa-why-our-50-year-old-drug-legislation-needs-go Journal - Research Other

Sims, G., Crossin, R., & Fitt, H. (2026). Social influences across vaping trajectories of female tertiary students. Drug & Alcohol Review, 45, e70116. doi: 10.1111/dar.70116 Journal - Research Article

Crépault, J.-F., Russell, C., Asbridge, M., Bonn, M., Chaiton, M., Darnay, K., … Crossin, R., … Rehm, J. (2026). Drug harms in Canada: A multi-criteria decision analysis. Journal of Psychopharmacology. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1177/02698811251409147 Journal - Research Article

Crossin, R., Doak, A., & Winter, O. (2026). Building consensus on drug policy in New Zealand through deliberative workshops. International Journal of Drug Policy, 148, 105128. doi: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2025.105128 Journal - Research Other

Crossin, R. (2025). New Zealand's choice: Funding our drug policy: A New Zealand drug budget compared to public perspectives and willingness to pay. (pp. 1-66). Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand: Helen Clark Foundation. Retrieved from https://helenclark.foundation Working Paper; Discussion Paper; Technical Report

Back to top