Helen Walls

BSc, MPH (Hons)

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Helen studied undergraduate physiology and anthropology before obtaining a Master of Public Health (Hons) in 2003 from The University of Auckland. Research for her dissertation took her to Mongolia, where she spent the northern winter of 2002-3 at the Directorate for Medical Services in Ulaanbaatar. There, she researched the increasing incidence of sexually transmitted infections in Mongolia.

Following this, Helen worked in public health at regional and national levels in New Zealand.  She was a Health Promoter in Rotorua with Toi Te Ora Public Health (Bay of Plenty District Health Board) and an Advisor (Epidemiology) with Public Health Intelligence (currently Health & Disability Intelligence), a unit of the Ministry of Health.

Helen is currently undertaking a PhD investigating population-wide changes in the prevalence of obesity and their implications.  She has received scholarships from the National Health & Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and National Heart Foundation (NHF) of Australia.  Helen is also involved in the university's undergraduate and graduate teaching programme.

Helen has presented research findings at local and international scientific meetings.