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Contact Details

Phone
+64 3 479 9092
Email
helen.harcombe@otago.ac.nz
Position
Associate Professor
Department
Department of Public Health (Dunedin)
Qualifications
BPhty MPH PhD
Research summary
Injury prevention, subsequent injury, musculoskeletal disorders e.g. among nurses, physical activity
Teaching
  • Undergraduate: POPH 192 Population Health
  • Programme Director, Bachelor of Health Sciences
  • Early Professional Experience (2nd year Medicine)
  • Thesis supervision: master’s and PhD research
Memberships
  • Physiotherapy New Zealand
  • Australasian Epidemiology Association
  • Australasian Injury Prevention Network
Clinical
Musculoskeletal physiotherapy

Research

Helen is an Associate Professor in the Department of Public Health (Dunedin), in the Faculty of Medicine. She is an epidemiologist with a clinical background as a physiotherapist and a PhD in Public Health. Her research focuses on enhancing and improving what happens to people following injury, in particular preventing subsequent injury. Other areas of research include musculoskeletal disorders, particularly among nurses.

She is currently leading a major trauma research grant funded by the Accident Compensation Corporation and administered by the Health Quality and Safety Commission examining major trauma and comorbidities.

Recently she led a feasibility study funded by the Health Research Council of New Zealand (HRC) focused on preventing subsequent injuries and has been Co-Investigator on two other HRC-funded projects examining outcomes of injury. She was Co-Principal Investigator on the HRC-funded Subsequent Injury Study (SInS) and has previously held a Strategy to Advance Research (STAR) PhD scholarship and a Health Research Council of New Zealand Occupational Health Career Development Award.

Publications

Lilley, R., Harcombe, H., Ballantyne, P., Wyeth, E., & Derrett, S. (2026). Long-term follow-up of work participation among New Zealand workers following injury: A 12-year national cohort study. Journal of Occupational & Environmental Medicine. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1097/jom.0000000000003780 Journal - Research Article

Gilchrist, R., Pickles, M., Gray, A. R., Harcombe, H., Ritchie, L., Lesa, R., & McAllister, S. (2026). Are we ready? Ageing of people living with HIV in Aotearoa New Zealand: HIV knowledge and attitudes among staff in aged care facilities. Australasian Journal on Ageing, 45(1), e70121. doi: 10.1111/ajag.70121 Journal - Research Article

Ntani, G., Felli, V. E., Harari, F., Barrero, L. H., Rojas, M., Serra, C., … Harcombe, H., & Walker-Bone, K. (2025). Longitudinal study of knee pain amongst workers in the Cultural and Psychosocial Influences on Disability (CUPID) study. BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, 26, 1026. doi: 10.1186/s12891-025-09237-z Journal - Research Article

Widyastuti, T. N., Turner, R., Harcombe, H., & McLean, R. (2025). BMI-z score trajectories of Indonesian children and adolescents between 1993 and 2014 and associated risk factors. Public Health Nutrition, 28(1), e101. doi: 10.1017/s1368980025100499 Journal - Research Article

Derrett, S., Owen, H. E., Barson, D., Maclennan, B., Samaranayaka, A., Harcombe, H., & Wyeth, E. H. (2024). New Zealand’s Prospective Outcomes of Injury Study—10 years on (POIS-10): Descriptive outcomes to 12 years post-injury [Short report]. Injury Prevention, 30(3), 251-255. doi: 10.1136/ip-2023-045058 Journal - Research Article

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