Rate My Professor Cheryl Brunton

Dr Cheryl Brunton serves as Senior Lecturer in the Department of Population Health at the University of Otago, Christchurch, a position she has held within the institution since 1991. Qualified with MBChB, DipComH, FAFPHM, and NZCPHM, she combines her academic role with practical public health leadership as Medical Officer of Health and Public Health Specialist at the Canterbury District Health Board since May 2003. Her career encompasses teaching, research, and frontline public health response in New Zealand.

Brunton's expertise lies in infectious disease epidemiology and public health practice, particularly viral hepatitis including the epidemiology of hepatitis C, vaccine-preventable disease epidemiology such as influenza, prevention of notifiable infectious diseases, outbreak investigation, and environmental risk factors for infectious diseases. She also specializes in environmental health. Key research contributions include observational studies on childhood diseases in New Zealand: The epidemiology of listeriosis in pregnant women and children from 1997 to 2016 (2020), The epidemiology of non-viral gastroenteritis in New Zealand children from 1997 to 2015 (2019), and The Epidemiology of Campylobacter Gastroenteritis in New Zealand Children and the Effect of the Campylobacter Strategy: A 20 Year Observational Study (2018). International impact is evident in Modeling the Global Prevalence of Hepatitis C Virus Infection in 2015 and Genotypes (2020) and Global prevalence and genotype distribution of hepatitis C virus infection in 2015: a modelling study (2016). She co-authored significant work on the health of sex workers following decriminalization, including The Impact of Decriminalisation on the Number of Sex Workers in New Zealand (2009) and chapters in Taking the Crime out of Sex Work (2008). With 2901 citations, her scholarship influences public health policy and epidemiology. Recognized as Public Health Champion 2009, Brunton has supervised Master of Public Health theses on pandemic preparedness, HIV risks among Black African migrants, risks of drinking water self-supplies, and culturally appropriate health promotion.