MB ChB, DIH, MPH
Professor (Public Health), and Director BODE3 Programme
Contact details
Tel +64 4 918 6469
Mob +64 21 204 5523
Email nick.wilson@otago.ac.nz
Blog blogs.otago.ac.nz/pubhealthexpert
Research interests and activities
Nick is a medical doctor who subsequently specialised as a public health physician and then moved into university-based research. He has over 450 Medline-indexed publications in peer-reviewed journals. His research interests include:
- The health economics of primary prevention of chronic diseases (see the BODE3 Programme)
- Tobacco use epidemiology and control (see also the ITC project website and other tobacco control work)
- Infectious disease epidemiology and control (particularly pandemic influenza but also other infectious diseases)
- Prevention of existential risks such as climate disruption and nuclear war (Existential Risks)
- Background Documents and forms – for research projects which Nick is involved with
Publications
Wilson, N., Rice, G., Thomson, G., & Baker, M. G. (2021). Remembering past pandemics to ensure we plan for the future: Updated New Zealand survey of memorials to the 1918 influenza pandemic. New Zealand Medical Journal, 134(1528), 111-114. Retrieved from https://www.nzma.org.nz/journal
Boyd, M., & Wilson, N. (2020). The prioritization of island nations as refuges from extreme pandemics. Risk Analysis, 40(2), 227-239. doi: 10.1111/risa.13398
Mizdrak, A., Telfer, K., Direito, A., Cobiac, L. J., Blakely, T., Cleghorn, C. L., & Wilson, N. (2020). Health gain, cost impacts, and cost-effectiveness of a mass media campaign to promote smartphone apps for physical activity: Modeling study. JMIR mHealth & uHealth, 8(6), e18014. doi: 10.2196/18014
Boyd, M. J., Wilson, N., & Nelson, C. (2020). Validation analysis of Global Health Security Index (GHSI) scores 2019. BMJ Global Health, 5, e003276. doi: 10.1136/bmjgh-2020-003276
Blakely, T., Cleghorn, C., Petrović-van der Deen, F., Cobiac, L. J., Mizdrak, A., Mackenbach, J. P., … Wilson, N. (2020). Prospective impact of tobacco eradication and overweight and obesity eradication on future morbidity and health-adjusted life expectancy: Simulation study. Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, 74, 354-361. doi: 10.1136/jech-2019-213091
Chapter in Book - Research
Thomson, G., & Wilson, N. (2017). Global tobacco industry. In S. R. Quah & W. Cockerham (Eds.), The International encyclopedia of public health (Vol. 3). (2nd ed.) (pp. 292-300). Oxford, UK: Academic Press. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-12-803678-5.00463-X
Thomson, G., & Wilson, N. (2015). The global tobacco industry. In M. J. Caplan (Ed.), Reference module in biomedical sciences. Elsevier. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-12-801238-3.03201-3
Wilson, N., Howden-Chapman, P., Wickens, K., & Crane, J. (2009). Indoor mould exposure and health. In P. Howden-Chapman, J. Bennett & R. Siebers (Eds.), Do damp and mould matter? Health impacts of leaky homes. (pp. 19-23). Wellington, New Zealand: Steele Roberts.
Thomson, G., Wilson, N., & Crane, J. (2008). Rethinking the regulatory framework for tobacco control in New Zealand. In A. Ghose (Ed.), Impact of government policies on marketing strategies. (pp. 179-188). Hyderabad, India: Icfai University Press.
Thomson, G., & Wilson, N. (2008). The tobacco industry. In K. Heggenhougen & S. Quah (Eds.), International encyclopedia of public health (Vol. 6). (pp. 331-337). San Diego, USA: Academic Press.
Blakely, T. A., Hales, S., Kieft, C. E., Wilson, N., & Woodward, A. (2004). Distribution of risk factors by poverty. In M. Ezzati, A. D. Lopez, A. Rodgers & C. J. L. Murray (Eds.), Comparative quantification of health risks: Volume 2: Global and regional burden of disease attributable to selected major risk factors. (pp. 1941-2127). Geneva: World Health Organization.
Thomson, G. W., & Wilson, N. (2001). Tobacco control policy. In P. Davis & T. Ashton (Eds.), Health and public policy in New Zealand. (pp. 237-254). Melbourne, Australia: Oxford University Press.
Howden-Chapman, P. L., & Wilson, N. (2000). Housing and Health. In P. Howden-Chapman & M. Tobias (Eds.), Social Inequalities and Health: New Zealand 1999. (pp. 133-146). Wellington: Ministry of Health.
Howden-Chapman, P. L., Wilson, N., & Blakely, T. A. (2000). Introduction. In P. Howden-Chapman & M. Tobias (Eds.), Social Inequalities and Health in New Zealand: New Zealand 1999. (pp. 1-7). Wellington: Ministry of Health.
Howden-Chapman, P., Wilson, N., & Blakely, T. (2000). Summary and conclusion. In Social inequalities in health: New Zealand 1999. (pp. 147-167). Wellington, New Zealand: Ministry of Health.
Howden-Chapman, P. L., Wilson, N., & Blakely, T. A. (2000). Summary and conclusions. In P. Howden-Chapman & M. Tobias (Eds.), Social Inequalities and Health in New Zealand: New Zealand 1999. (pp. 147-168). Wellington: Ministry of Health.
Howden-Chapman, P., Wilson, N., & Blakely, T. (2000). Introduction. In Social inequalities in health: New Zealand 1999. (pp. 1-7). Wellington, New Zealand: Ministry of Health.
Wilson, N. (2000). Occupational class and health. In Social inequalities in health: New Zealand 1999. (pp. 103-118). Wellington, New Zealand: Ministry of Health.
Wilson, N. (2000). Education and health. In Social inequalities in health: New Zealand 1999. (pp. 87-101). Wellington, New Zealand: Ministry of Health.
Wilson, N. (2000). Labour force status and health. In Social inequalities in health: New Zealand 1999. (pp. 119-132). Wellington, New Zealand: Ministry of Health.
Howden-Chapman, P., & Wilson, N. (2000). Housing and health. In Social inequalities in health: New Zealand 1999. (pp. 133-145). Wellington, New Zealand: Ministry of Health.
Journal - Research Article
Boyd, M., & Wilson, N. (2020). The prioritization of island nations as refuges from extreme pandemics. Risk Analysis, 40(2), 227-239. doi: 10.1111/risa.13398
Blakely, T., Cleghorn, C., Petrović-van der Deen, F., Cobiac, L. J., Mizdrak, A., Mackenbach, J. P., … Wilson, N. (2020). Prospective impact of tobacco eradication and overweight and obesity eradication on future morbidity and health-adjusted life expectancy: Simulation study. Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, 74, 354-361. doi: 10.1136/jech-2019-213091
Boyd, M. J., Wilson, N., & Nelson, C. (2020). Validation analysis of Global Health Security Index (GHSI) scores 2019. BMJ Global Health, 5, e003276. doi: 10.1136/bmjgh-2020-003276
Mizdrak, A., Telfer, K., Direito, A., Cobiac, L. J., Blakely, T., Cleghorn, C. L., & Wilson, N. (2020). Health gain, cost impacts, and cost-effectiveness of a mass media campaign to promote smartphone apps for physical activity: Modeling study. JMIR mHealth & uHealth, 8(6), e18014. doi: 10.2196/18014
Boyd, M., Kvizhinadze, G., Kho, A., Wilson, G., & Wilson, N. (2020). Cataract surgery for falls prevention and improving vision: Modelling the health gain, health system costs and cost-effectiveness in a high-income country. Injury Prevention, 26, 302-309. doi: 10.1136/injuryprev-2019-043184
Blakely, T., Cleghorn, C., Mizdrak, A., Waterlander, W., Nghiem, N., Swinburn, B., Wilson, N., & Ni Mhurchu, C. (2020). The effect of food taxes and subsidies on population health and health costs: A modelling study. Lancet Public Health, 5(7), e404-e413. doi: 10.1016/s2468-2667(20)30116-x
Blakely, T., Moss, R., Collins, J., Mizdrak, A., Singh, A., Carvalho, N., Wilson, N., … Flaxman, A. (2020). Proportional multistate lifetable modelling of preventive interventions: Concepts, code and worked examples. International Journal of Epidemiology. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1093/ije/dyaa132
Teng, A., Puloka, V., Genç, M., Filimoehala, O., Latu, C., Lolomana'ia, M., … Signal, L., & Wilson, N. (2020). Sweetened beverage taxes and changes in beverage price, imports and manufacturing: Interrupted time series analysis in a middle-income country. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition & Physical Activity, 17, 90. doi: 10.1186/s12966-020-00980-1
Abeling, S., Horspool, N., Johnston, D., Dizhur, D., Wilson, N., Clement, C., & Ingham, J. (2020). Patterns of earthquake-related mortality at a whole-country level: New Zealand, 1840-2017. Earthquake Spectra, 36(1), 138-163. doi: 10.1177/8755293019878190
Wilson, N., Boyd, M., Kvalsvig, A., Chambers, T., & Baker, M. (2020). Public health aspects of the Covid-19 response and opportunities for the post-pandemic era. Policy Quarterly, 16(3), 20-24.
Wilson, N., Schwehm, M., Verrall, A. J., Parry, M., Baker, M. G., & Eichner, M. (2020). Detecting the re-emergent COVID-19 pandemic after elimination: Modelling study of combined primary care and hospital surveillance. New Zealand Medical Journal, 133(1524), 28-39. Retrieved from https://www.nzma.org.nz/journal
Petrović-van der Deen, F. S., Blakely, T., Kvizhinadze, G., Cleghorn, C. L., Cobiac, L. J., & Wilson, N. (2019). Restricting tobacco sales to only pharmacies combined with cessation advice: A modelling study of the future smoking prevalence, health and cost impacts. Tobacco Control, 28, 643-650. doi: 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2018-054600
Cobiac, L. J., Mizdrak, A., & Wilson, N. (2019). Cost-effectiveness of raising alcohol excise taxes to reduce the injury burden of road traffic crashes. Injury Prevention, 25, 421-427. doi: 10.1136/injuryprev-2018-042914
Nghiem, N., Leung, W., Cleghorn, C., Blakely, T., & Wilson, N. (2019). Mass media promotion of a smartphone smoking cessation app: Modelled health and cost-saving impacts. BMC Public Health, 19(1), 283. doi: 10.1186/s12889-019-6605-8
Cleghorn, C. L., Wilson, N., Nair, N., Kvizhinadze, G., Nghiem, N., McLeod, M., & Blakely, T. (2019). Health benefits and costs of weight-loss dietary counselling by nurses in primary care: A cost-effectiveness analysis. Public Health Nutrition, 23(1), 83-93. doi: 10.1017/s1368980019002945
Thomson, G., Nee-Nee, J., Sutherland, K., Holland, R., Wilson, M., & Wilson, N. (2019). Observed vaping and smoking in outdoor public places: Piloting objective data collection for policies on outdoor vaping. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 43(4), 401-402. doi: 10.1111/1753-6405.12907
Gage, R., Wilson, N., Signal, L., & Thomson, G. (2019). Shade in playgrounds: Findings from a nationwide survey and implications for urban health policy. Journal of Public Health, 27(5), 669-674. doi: 10.1007/s10389-018-0990-9
Nee-Nee, J., Sutherland, K., Holland, R., Wilson, M., Ackland, S., Bocock, C., Cartmell, A., Earp, J., Grove, C., Hewson, C., Jeffries, W., Keefe, L., Lockyer, J., Patel, S., Quintans, M., Robbie, M., Teape, L., Yang, J., Wilson, N., Hoek, J., & Thomson, G. (2019). Tobacco pack display at hospitality venues after the introduction of standardised tobacco packaging in New Zealand: A field observation study. BMJ Open, 9, e027868. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2018-027868
Cleghorn, C., Blakely, T., Ni Mhurchu, C., Wilson, N., Neal, B., & Eyles, H. (2019). Estimating the health benefits and cost-savings of a cap on the size of single serve sugar-sweetened beverages. Preventive Medicine, 120, 150-156. doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2019.01.009
Wilson, N., Cleghorn, C. L., Cobiac, L. J., Mizdrak, A., & Nghiem, N. (2019). Achieving healthy and sustainable diets: A review of the results of recent mathematical optimization studies. Advances in Nutrition, 10(Suppl. 4), S389-S403. doi: 10.1093/advances/nmz037
Waterlander, W. E., Jiang, Y., Nghiem, N., Eyles, H., Wilson, N., Cleghorn, C., Genç, M., … Blakely, T. (2019). The effect of food price changes on consumer purchases: A randomised experiment. Lancet Public Health, 4(8), e394-e405. doi: 10.1016/S2468-2667(19)30105-7
Wilson, N., Turner, N., & Baker, M. G. (2019). One hundred years ago in 1919: New Zealand's birth reduction shock associated with an influenza pandemic. New Zealand Medical Journal, 132(1507), 57-62. Retrieved from https://www.nzma.org.nz/journal
Teng, A. M., Jones, A. C., Mizdrak, A., Signal, L., Genç, M., & Wilson, N. (2019). Impact of sugar-sweetened beverage taxes on purchases and dietary intake: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Obesity Reviews, 20, 1187-1204. doi: 10.1111/obr.12868
Deverall, E., Kvizhinadze, G., Pega, F., Blakely, T., & Wilson, N. (2019). Exercise programmes to prevent falls among older adults: Modelling health gain, cost-utility and equity impacts. Injury Prevention, 25(4), 258-263. doi: 10.1136/injuryprev-2016-042309
Petrović-van der Deen, F. S., Wilson, N., Crothers, A., Cleghorn, C. L., Gartner, C., & Blakely, T. (2019). Potential country-level health and cost impacts of legalizing domestic sale of vaporized nicotine products. Epidemiology, 30(3), 396-404. doi: 10.1097/ede.0000000000000975
Clement, C., Abeling, S., Deely, J., Teng, A., Thomson, G., Johnston, D., & Wilson, N. (2019). Descriptive epidemiology of New Zealand's highest mortality earthquake: Hawke's Bay in 1931. Scientific Reports, 9, 4914. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-41432-6
Cleghorn, C., Wilson, N., Nair, N., Kvizhinadze, G., Nghiem, N., McLeod, M., & Blakely, T. (2019). Health benefits and cost-effectiveness from promoting smartphone apps for weight loss: Multistate life table modeling. JMIR mHealth & uHealth, 7(1), e11118. doi: 10.2196/11118
Nghiem, N., Knight, J., Mizdrak, A., Blakely, T., & Wilson, N. (2019). Preventive pharmacotherapy for cardiovascular disease: A modelling study considering health gain, costs, and cost-effectiveness when stratifying by absolute risk. Scientific Reports, 9, 19562. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-55372-8
Gurram, N., Thomson, G., Wilson, N., & Hoek, J. (2019). Electronic cigarette online marketing by New Zealand vendors. New Zealand Medical Journal, 132(1506), 20-33. Retrieved from https://www.nzma.org.nz/journal
Tinawi, G., Gray, T., Knight, T., Glass, C., Domanski, N., Wilson, N., Hoek, J., & Thomson, G. (2018). Highly deficient alcohol health warning labels in a high-income country with a voluntary system. Drug & Alcohol Review, 37(5), 616-626. doi: 10.1111/dar.12814
Gage, R., Wilson, N., Signal, L., Barr, M., Reeder, A., & Thomson, G. (2018). Using Google Earth to assess shade for sun protection in urban recreation spaces: Methods and results. Journal of Health Communication, 43, 1061-1068. doi: 10.1007/s10900-018-0522-0
Nghiem, N., Cleghorn, C. L., Leung, W., Nair, N., van der Deen, F. S., Blakely, T., & Wilson, N. (2018). A national quitline service and its promotion in the mass media: Modelling the health gain, health equity and cost-utility. Tobacco Control, 27(4), 434-441. doi: 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2017-053660
Boyd, M., & Wilson, N. (2018). Just ask Siri? A pilot study comparing smartphone digital assistants and laptop Google searches for smoking cessation advice. PLoS ONE, 13(3), e0194811. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0194811
Boyd, M., Mansoor, O. D., Baker, M. G., & Wilson, N. (2018). Economic evaluation of border closure for a generic severe pandemic threat using New Zealand Treasury methods. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 42(5), 444-446. doi: 10.1111/1753-6405.12818
