Rate My Professor Esko Wiltshire

Professor Esko Wiltshire is a Professor and Head of the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health at the University of Otago, Wellington, serving in the Faculty of Medicine. A specialist paediatric endocrinologist, he holds the qualifications MBChB (with distinction, University of Otago, 1989), MD, DipObst, DipPaed, and FRACP. Following his medical degree, he worked as a house surgeon and senior house officer in the greater Wellington region, obtaining his diplomas in obstetrics and paediatrics. He completed basic paediatric training and the FRACP examinations, followed by advanced training in general paediatrics and specialisation in paediatric endocrinology and metabolic disease in Adelaide, South Australia, where he earned his MD by investigating early vascular disease in children with diabetes. In 2001, he returned to Wellington as Senior Lecturer in the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health and as Paediatrician/Paediatric Endocrinologist for Capital & Coast DHB (now Te Whatu Ora). He progressed to Associate Professor in 2013 and Professor in 2019, overseeing the development of paediatric endocrinology and diabetes services and currently convening fifth-year medical student teaching.

Professor Wiltshire's research interests focus on the acute and chronic complications of diabetes in children, including their pathophysiology, early development, and treatment. He collaborates with Professor Jennifer Couper in South Australia to identify factors in the early pathogenesis of vascular complications, participates in the Australasian arm of TrialNet investigating treatments to prevent type 1 diabetes, and works with Professor Kim Donaghue in Sydney on autonomic dysfunction in children with diabetes. He also maintains interests in other areas of clinical paediatric endocrinology and metabolism, including paediatric bone and calcium homeostasis, adrenal function, and mitochondrial disease. His key publications include Peña et al. (2006) Vascular endothelial and smooth muscle function relates to body mass index and glucose in obese and nonobese children (Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism); MacKenzie et al. (2006) Folate and vitamin B6 rapidly normalize endothelial dysfunction in children with type 1 diabetes mellitus (Pediatrics); Peña et al. (2007) Folic acid does not improve endothelial function in obese children and adolescents (Diabetes Care); Newton et al. (2009) Pedometers and text messaging to increase physical activity: Randomized controlled trial of adolescents with type 1 diabetes (Diabetes Care); and Calvo et al. (2010) High-throughput, pooled sequencing identifies mutations in NUBPL and FOXRED1 in human complex I deficiency (Nature Genetics).