Alistair Woodward

Alistair is an epidemiologist and public health doctor. He was Head of the School of Population Health at Auckland from 2004-2012 and previously led the departments of public health at the University of Otago Wellington, and the University of Adelaide. His research and teaching is concerned primarily with environmental matters and the social determinants of health. He has worked for the World Health Organization throughout the Pacific and has been closely involved with the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for 20 years. He is currently a lead author for the Australia and New Zealand chapter in AR6. His recent research has focussed on environmental health issues in China; climate change impacts in the Pacific; the effects of street changes on health and safety; pathways to sustainable, healthy and fair transport systems; and the future of the bicycle.

Key publications

  1. He Kāinga Oranga: reflections on 25 years of measuring the improved health, wellbeing and sustainability of healthier housing.
    Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand,
    Online.
  2. Shaw, C. McLeod, M. Mizdrak, A.
    The Impact of Transport on Population Health and Health Equity for Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand: A Prospective Burden of Disease Study.
    International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health,
    19(4), 2032.
  3. Atkinson, J. Metcalfe, J. Kuschel,G.
    Long term exposure to air pollution, mortality and morbidity in New Zealand: Cohort study.
    Science of The Total Environment,
    801(38):149660.
  4. Macmillan, A. Smith, M. Hosking, J. Wild, K. Field, A.
    Suburb-level changes for active transport to meet the SDGs: Causal theory and a New Zealand case study.
    The Science of the total environment
    714.
  5. Shaw, C. Blakely, T. Atkinson, J.
    Is mode of transport to work associated with mortality in the working-age population? Repeated census-cohort studies in New Zealand 1996, 2001 and 2006.
    International Journal of Epidemiology
    49(2), 477-485.
  6. Mizdrak, A. Cobiac, L. J. Cleghorn, C. L. Blakely, T.
    Fuelling walking and cycling: human powered locomotion is associated with non-negligible greenhouse gas emissions.
    Scientific reports
    10(1).
  7. Bassett, D. Hosking, J. Ameratunga, S.
    Variations in the health benefit valuations of active transport modes by age and ethnicity: A case study from New Zealand.
    Journal of Transport and Health
    19.
  8. Why New Zealand transport policy needs to encourage walking and cycling.
    In L Early & P Howden-Chapman (Eds.), Cities in New Zealand: Preferences, patterns and possibilities.
    (pp.107-114). Wellington, New Zealand: Steele Roberts Aotearoa.
  9. Abrahamse, W. Muggeridge, D. Beetham, J. Grams, M.
    Increasing active travel: results of a quasi-experimental pre-post study of an intervention to encourage walking and cycling.
    Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health
    doi:10.1136/jech-2015-205466