Professor Neil Pearce

Professor Neil Pearce is the director of Massey University’s Centre for Public Health Research, based in Wellington. He has been active in occupational health research for more than 20 years, specialising in occupational cancers and occupational respiratory disease.

As a research leader, he was director of the Asthma Research Group of the Wellington School of Medicine from 1996 to 2000, and since then he has been director of the Centre for Public Health Research.

He also headed the National Occupational Health and Safety Advisory Committee, which for five years from 2004 produced a series of benchmark reports on the state of occupational health and safety in New Zealand, with recommendations for improvement.

Under his leadership, the risks of respiratory disease and causal exposures in welders, farmers, mussel openers, hairdressers, asbestos workers, saw mill workers, and plywood mill workers have been identified.

His research has also identified elevated risks of cancer in various occupational groups, including producers and sprayers of phenoxy herbicides, meat workers, pulp and paper workers, farmers, and timber workers exposed to pentachlorophenol.

A recent study conducted by CPHR under Neil’s leadership has for the first time assessed the current and future burden of occupational ill-health in New Zealand.

Professor Pearce has made a major contribution in placing occupational health firmly on New Zealand’s research and policy agenda.

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