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Contact Details

Email
simon.hales@otago.ac.nz
Position
Professor
Department
Department of Public Health (Wellington)
Qualifications
MB BChir MPH (Otago) PhD
Research summary
Environmental epidemiology

Research

Simon is an environmental epidemiologist with an interest in the atmospheric environment and global issues. Simon's current projects include:
  • assessing health aspects of vulnerability and adaptation to climate change (NZ and Fiji)
  • estimating the global burden of disease attributable to climate change
  • empirical modelling of communicable disease in relation to climate
  • health co benefits of climate change mitigation
  • health impact assessment of air pollution exposure

Publications

Yu, W., Xu, R., Huang, W., Yang, Z., Ye, T., Yu, P., … Hales, S., … Guo, Y. (2026). Regional variations in emergency care vulnerability to summer heat. Nature Communications. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1038/s41467-026-73338-z Journal - Research Article

Hales, S., Prickett, M., & Baker, M. (2026). Climate change risk report exposes serious public health policy gaps. The Briefing, (25 May). Retrieved from https://www.phcc.org.nz/briefing/climate-change-risk-report-exposes-serious-public-health-policy-gaps Journal - Research Other

Wen, B., Wu, Y., Xu, R., Yu, P., Liu, Y., Yu, W., … Hales, S., … Li, S. (2026). Mortality risk due to non-optimum temperatures by cause of death, age, and sex: A multi-country time-series study. eClinicalMedicine. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1016/j.eclinm.2026.103920 Journal - Research Article

Yu, P., Xu, R., Huang, W., Liu, Y., Yang, Z., Abramson, M. J., … Hales, S., … Guo, Y. (2026). Source-specific short-term-ozone exposure and specific cancer mortality risk: A multi-country study in 11,215 communities. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 508, 141822. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2026.141822 Journal - Research Article

Chambers, T., Hales, S., Pourzand, F., Dean, F., Kim, A. H. M., Puente-Sierra, M., … Baker, M. G. (2026). Drinking water quality and enteric disease: A nationwide case-crossover study (2015-2019) in New Zealand. Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1038/s41370-026-00857-8 Journal - Research Article

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