Rate My Professor Bruce Russell

Professor Bruce Russell serves as Dean of the School of Pharmacy and Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Otago, holding the Chair in Parasitology. He obtained his BPharm (Hons) from the School of Pharmacy and PhD from the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Otago. Following his doctorate, he conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, where he also practiced as a pharmacist. Prior to joining the University of Otago in 2016, he served as Senior Lecturer at the University of Auckland for approximately ten years and Assistant Professor at the National University of Singapore. He co-leads the IMAGE Otago research group and maintains registration as a practicing pharmacist specializing in mental health.

Russell's research encompasses parasitology and clinical psychopharmacology. As a parasitologist, he focuses on the biology of Plasmodium vivax, utilizing ex vivo tools and continuous cultures of P. cynomolgi as a model to study drug susceptibility, reticulocyte invasion mechanisms, therapeutics, and vaccines suitable for malaria-endemic regions. His studies also address the pathobiology, biomechanics, and cytoadhesion of Plasmodium-infected red blood cells, alongside cryptosporidiosis drug discovery and protozoal parasite epidemiology in New Zealand. In psychopharmacology, he investigates the pathophysiology of treatment-resistant schizophrenia, depression, anxiety, methamphetamine addiction, and opioid addiction, using MRI, behavioral assessments, and clinical trials to identify biomarkers predicting individual responses to psychiatric drugs. He teaches clinical pharmacy to third- and fourth-year students, as well as courses in cell biology, human body systems, health microbiology, and medical microbiology and immunology. Russell is a member of the Schizophrenia International Research Society, the College of Problems on Drug Dependence (USA), and the Pharmaceutical Society of New Zealand. Notable publications include Anstey et al. (2024), 'The biology and pathogenesis of vivax malaria' in Trends in Parasitology; Christensen et al. (2024), 'Extended blood stage sensitivity profiles of Plasmodium cynomolgi to doxycycline and tafenoquine' in Antimicrobial Agents & Chemotherapy; and Shadli et al. (2025), 'Frontal localisation of a theory-based anxiety disorder biomarker' in Journal of Affective Disorders.