Rate My Professor Christina Needham

Christina Needham serves as Poisons Information Officer at the National Poisons Centre, part of the University of Otago's Health Sciences Division. The centre operates from the 3rd Floor, Wellcome Building, 22 Frederick Street, Dunedin 9016, delivering a 24/7 toxicology information service to the New Zealand public and healthcare providers. It manages poisoning enquiries, maintains a poisons database, and supports harm prevention through resources like educational materials on household and garden toxins. Needham is a key team member, contributing to this essential public health function alongside specialists and researchers.

Needham has contributed to toxicology research via conference abstracts in Toxicology Communications. In 2023, with Lucy Shieffelbien, she presented 'Poisoning enquiries from New Zealand preschool, primary and secondary schools over a 10-year period (2010–2019)'. This analysis of 3389 calls involving 4151 patients and 4736 substances revealed increasing exposures, with preschoolers affected mainly by exploratory incidents involving plants (26.6%) and chemicals (28.1%), and secondary students by unintentional, intentional, or abuse cases with chemicals (31.8%) and analgesics (9%). Call volumes nearly doubled from 356 in 2010 to 608 in 2019, yet 78% needed no medical treatment. The work recommends education on substance abuse. In 2025, Needham detailed 'Copper overload with end-organ injury from intentional self-injection of calcium copper edetate', a veterinary product case causing hemolysis, kidney injury, and full recovery after prolonged hospitalization. In 2015, she advised the Otago Daily Times on a major mercury spill, highlighting chronic vapour risks leading to nervous system damage with flu-like symptoms, tremors, and memory loss.