Rate My Professor Jacqui Keenan

Jacqui Keenan is an Associate Professor and Research Associate Professor in the Department of Surgery and Critical Care at the University of Otago, Christchurch, part of the Faculty of Medicine in the Health Sciences Division. She holds an MApplSci with First Class Honours and a PhD. Her research focuses on the role of bacteria in the pathogenesis of gastrointestinal diseases, particularly the mechanisms by which outer membrane vesicles shed from Gram-negative bacteria induce epithelial permeability, inflammation, and DNA damage. Keenan investigates the influence of diet on bacterial phenotype and host responses, with applications to conditions such as colorectal cancer and inflammatory bowel disease. She is recognized as an expert in gut bacteria and diet as environmental risk factors for sporadic colorectal cancer, early-onset colorectal cancer, toxin-producing gut bacteria, and strategies using diet to reduce bacterial toxin production or mitigate toxin-associated cell damage.

Keenan's career at the University of Otago includes supervising postgraduate students on projects related to non-invasive biomarkers for inflammatory bowel disease in children, early-onset colorectal cancer, nutritional immunity and colon carcinogenesis, and dietary regulation of the colonic mucus barrier. Her key publications include 'Integrated multi-omic and symptom clustering reveals lower-gastrointestinal disorders of gut-brain interaction heterogeneity' in Gut Microbes (2026, co-author), 'The pathway to diagnosis of early-onset colorectal cancer: Exploring diagnostic intervals and their effect on outcomes' in Future Oncology (2025, co-author), 'Early onset colorectal cancer in Canterbury, New Zealand' in ANZ Journal of Surgery (2023, co-author), 'Detection of Chitinase 3-Like 1 in Symptomatic Primary Care Patients' (2023), 'Uptake of Helicobacter pylori Outer Membrane Vesicles by Gastric Cancer Cells' (2010), and 'Immune Response to an 18-Kilodalton Outer Membrane Protein of Helicobacter pylori' (2000). She has presented on other colorectal cancer risk factors, including microplastics, and contributes to media expertise on cancer epidemiology, prevention, and microbiology. Her work advances knowledge of diagnostic pathways, quality of life in early-onset colorectal cancer, and the microbiome's role in gastrointestinal health.