Contact Details
University Links
- Position
- NZMRDG Operations Director / Research Fellow
- Department
- Department of Paediatrics and Child Health (Dunedin)
- Qualifications
- BSc(Hons) PhD
- Research summary
- Mortality in Aotearoa
Research
Rachael is the Operations Director / Research Fellow for the New Zealand Mortality Review Data Group (NZMRDG), based at the University of Otago Dunedin Campus. The NZMRDG is an integral part of the national mortality review function of Aotearoa New Zealand, providing bespoke mortality collection systems, reporting and research in support of the National Mortality Review Committee. This function is managed via Te Tāhū Hauora - Health Quality and Safety Commission (HQSC) and is in keeping with the goals outlined and empowered by Section 82 of the Pae Ora (Healthy Futures Act) 2022 to review and report on deaths with a view to reducing morbidity and mortality within Aotearoa.
NZMRDG currently manages data relating to Child and Youth and Perinatal and Maternal mortality in Aotearoa. Applications for use of the data housed by NZMRDG can be made via HQSC by contacting them on nmrmg@hqsc.govt.nz
More information on National Mortality Review in Aotearoa
Prior to her current role, Rachael was an Assistant Research Fellow with the Department of General Practice and Rural Health, Dunedin School of Medicine. She was part of the research team lead by Professor Tim Stokes on the NZ Health Research Council funded research project: Do Regional District Health Board groupings improve service integration and health outcomes?
Rachael was also involved in research exploring outcomes of the Rural Hospital Medicine Training Programme with Dr Kati Blattner, Dr Rory Miller and Professor Garry Nixon.
She previously worked as the Performance Based Research Funding (PBRF) Officer for the Dunedin Medical School, facilitating participation of eligible staff across all eight departments in the PBRF process.
Raised in rural Southland and South Canterbury, Rachael has a particular interest in the rural communities and ecosystems. Although originally a plant community ecologist, Rachael has since adapted her research interests in system function, mechanisms and resource use into health services research and reporting.
Rachael's ecology work concentrated on theoretical plant community ecology, mechanisms of co-existence, functional trait measurement and resource use. Both her PhD: Alpha-niche differentiation in an herbaceous community, 2016, and BSc Honours thesis: A habitat based test of the C-S-R theory, 1998 (University of Otago), involved quantitative explorations of co-existence theories and were supervised by Emeritus Professor J Bastow Wilson. She remains involved in HerbDivNet – The Herbaceous Diversity Network, a global network of scientists studying patterns of diversity in herbaceous plant communities.
Many years of corporate experience from her time working in insurance and tax in NZ and Australia has also translated well into this environment.
Publications
Lawrence Lodge, R. (2025, November). Mortality risk of youth with neurodevelopmental conditions. Verbal presentation at the Research Symposium: Harnessing Linked Population-level Data for Health Research, Dunedin, New Zealand. Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Bowden, N., Schluter, P. J., Asaka, U., Dacombe, J., Hii, J., Lee, J., Mirfin-Veitch, B., … Szymanska, K., … Vu, H., & Lawrence Lodge, R. (2025). Mortality risk of youth with neurodevelopmental conditions: An Aotearoa New Zealand nationwide birth cohort study. JAMA Pediatrics. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2025.4335 Journal - Research Article
National Mortality Review Committee, including Perinatal and Maternal Mortality Review subject matter expert, Edmonds, L., and also New Zealand Mortality Review Data Group, including Dawson, P., Sinclair, O., Hii, J., Charters, K., Zavacky, J., Szymanska, K., & Lawrence Lodge, R. (2024). Sixteenth annual report of the Perinatal and Maternal Mortality Review Committee | Te pūrongo ā-tau tekau mā ono o te Komiti Arotake Mate Pēpi, Mate Whaea hoki: Reporting mortality and morbidity 2021 | Te tuku pūrongo mō te mate me te whakamate 2021. Commissioned by Te Tāhū Hauora Health Quality & Safety Commission. Wellington, New Zealand: Perinatal and Maternal Mortality Review Committee. 92p. Retrieved from https://www.hqsc.govt.nz/resources/ Commissioned Report for External Body
Titter, B., Lawrence-Lodge, R., Nisa-Waller, A., Edmonds, L., & Dawson, P. (2024, November). Suicide a a cause of death up to 12 months after birth: A retrospective population-based cohort study. Verbal presentation at the Paediatric Society of New Zealand Te Kāhui Mātai Arotamariki o Aotearoa (PSNZ) 75th Annual Meeting, Dunedin, New Zealand. Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Radujković, D., Vicca, S., van Rooyen, M., Wilfahrt, P., Brown, L., Jentsch, A., … Lawrence Lodge, R., … Lord, J. M., … Verbruggen, E. (2023). Consistent predictors of microbial community composition across spatial scales in grasslands reveal low context-dependency. Molecular Ecology, 32, 6924-6938. doi: 10.1111/mec.17178 Journal - Research Article