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Contact Details

Phone
+64 4 832 3523
Email
cindy.towns@otago.ac.nz

University Links

Position
Associate Dean (Academic Progress); Associate Professor
Department
Department of Medicine (Wellington)
Qualifications
PhD MB ChB FRACP
Research summary
Dr Towns is a General Physician, Geriatrician and Clinical Ethicist with a strong focus on patient safety and rights and a special interest in the acute porphyrias.
Teaching

ELM3: LGBTQ cultural safety; ALM6 Medicine

I would be happy to consider supervision of postgraduates interested in General Medicine, Geriatrics, Clinical Ethics or the acute porphyrias.

Memberships
  • Cure Huntington’s Disease Initiative (CHDI)
  • Ethics Advisory Board Clinical Ethics Society of Australasia (CESA)
  • Board Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP)
  • Internal Medicine Society of Australia and New Zealand (IMSANZ)
  • Australia and New Zealand Society for Geriatric medicine (ANZSGM)
  • Australian Porphyria Association Medical Advisory Board Porphyria Australia and New Zealand Registry (PANZR)
  • Pride in Medicine (PIM)
Clinical
Dr Towns works in the Department of General Medicine as an Acute and General physician. She also works as a community Geriatrician and from 2020–2025 was the Clinical Ethics Advisor to the Capital and Coast and Hutt Valley District Health Boards.

Research

Dr Towns has received international travel grants from the Movement Disease Society (MDS), Cure Huntington’s Disease Initiative (CHDI) and The European Huntington’s Disease Network (EHDN).

She is currently involved in an international collaboration publishing ethical guidance for researchers involved in the development of advanced therapies (i.e. gene and stem cell treatments) for Huntington’s Disease.?She is actively involved in research and advocacy for safe hospital accommodation practice including the elimination of mixed gender rooms and design and policy that upholds human rights and patient rights. Dr Towns also regularly collaborates with Australian colleagues to publish and provide clinical education on presentations of the rare disease – porphyria.

Additional details

Dr Towns has presented on cultural safety, ethics and porphyria to international conferences in Australia, the United States, Italy, Spain and Denmark.

Publications

Towns, C., Cameron, C., & Lourens, N. (2026). Eating disorders: Do rigid age limits for paediatrics serve our young people? New Zealand Medical Journal/Te ara tika o te hauora hapori, 139(1635), 95-101. doi: 10.26635/6965.7276 Journal - Research Other

Towns, C., Shirtcliffe, P., Lourens, N., Cameron, C., Hodgetts, K., Sekicki, V., & McCloy, C. (2026). Author reply to Neilson et al: re Beyond beds and band-aids. Internal Medicine Journal, 56(5), 936-937. doi: 10.1111/imj.70423 Journal - Research Other

Ruttle, T., Jones, E., & Towns, C. (2026). Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy in atypical parkinsonian syndromes: Survival and aspiration outcomes from a retrospective international cohort. New Zealand Medical Journal/Te ara tika o te hauora hapori, 139(1628), 40-49. doi: 10.26635/6965.7117 Journal - Research Article

Ruttle, T., Jones, E., & Towns, C. (2026). Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy in atypical Parkinsonian syndromes: Survival and aspiration risk in an international cohort. Age & Ageing, 55(Suppl. 1), 3706. doi: 10.1093/ageing/afaf368.158 Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract

Burgess, S., Zaman, S., Towns, C., Coylewright, M., & Cader, F. A. (2025). The under-representation of women in cardiovascular clinical trials: State-of-the-art review and ethical considerations. American Heart Journal, 282, 81-92. doi: 10.1016/j.ahj.2024.12.011 Journal - Research Article

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