Rate My Professor Evan Begg

Emeritus Professor Evan Begg serves in the Department of Medicine at the University of Otago Christchurch, part of the Faculty of Medicine within the Health Sciences Division. A prominent New Zealand clinical pharmacologist, he holds the qualifications MD and FRACP. Educated at the University of Auckland, completing in 1974, he joined the University of Otago in 1984. He was appointed Head of the Department of Clinical Pharmacology and later granted Professor Emeritus status by the University Council in 2013. His career includes significant contributions to clinical pharmacology education and research at the Christchurch School of Medicine.

Begg's academic interests center on clinical pharmacology, with a focus on pharmacokinetics, individualized drug dosing, pharmacogenetics, and factors affecting drug clearance, such as renal function and pathophysiological changes. He authored the textbook Instant Clinical Pharmacology, published in association with the Christchurch School of Medicine, University of Otago. Key publications include 'A unified pharmacokinetic approach to individualized drug dosing' in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology (2011), 'Determination of Total and Free Concentrations of Flucloxacillin and its Major Metabolite' in the Journal of Analytical & Bioanalytical Techniques (2014), 'Prescribing and monitoring clozapine in Christchurch' in Australasian Psychiatry (2008), 'The Effects of Pathophysiological Increments in Brain Natriuretic Peptide' in Hypertension (1997), and a letter on 'Dabigatran in Patients with Mechanical Heart Valves' in The New England Journal of Medicine (2014). He co-developed the Interactive Clinical Pharmacology resource. Begg supervised exceptional PhD theses, notably Sharon Gardiner's 'Pharmacogenetics, drug metabolism and clinical practice' (2007), recognized by the University of Otago Division of Health Sciences. His research has attracted grants, including a National Heart Foundation of New Zealand small project grant on CYP2D6 effects. The Evan Begg Prize for Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology, awarded at the 2025 ASCEPT NZ ASM, underscores his influence. He presented an inaugural professorial lecture titled 'Confessions of a druggie'.