Distinguished Professor Philippa Howden-Chapman from the Faculty of Medicine – Wellington has been honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the International Society for Urban Health (ISUH).
It is the first such award given by the society in its 23-year history and was presented at the ISUH’s International Conference on Urban Health co-hosted by the University and held in Wellington from 17 to 21 November.
Philippa, from the Department of Public Health, is Co-director of He Kāinga Oranga – Housing and Health Research Programme and Director of the New Zealand Centre for Sustainable Cities.
Visiting speakers at the conference Dr David Jacobs, Chief Scientist at the National Center for Healthy Housing (USA), and Professor Mike Davies from University College London paid tribute to Philippa’s work when the award was presented on 20 November.
Dr Jacobs expressed a deep appreciation of Philippa's prolific outputs in forging advances in the field of healthy housing and Professor Davies described her input to guiding and informing policy as having an influence far beyond Aotearoa New Zealand, saying her reputation had been earned not just for what she had done, but for the way she had done it.
Dr Lori Leigh, a Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Public Health, spoke of Philippa’s reputation for fundamentally changing how people think about housing as a determinant of health and for being the "ultimate silo wrecker" in pursuit of "fairer futures for generations to come".
Other honours that have been awarded to Philippa, who is a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand, include a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2021 for services to public health and a Distinguished Research Medal from the University of Otago in 2023. She has also served as a Director on the board of Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities (2018-2024).