Always positive and enthusiastic in class.
Professor John Dockerty is an epidemiologist and public health physician at the University of Otago, serving in the Department of Public Health, Dunedin School of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine. He holds the qualifications MB ChB, DipComH, PhD (Otago), FAFPHM, and FNZCPHM. Dockerty has worked professionally in New Zealand and the United Kingdom, contributing to epidemiological research through collaborations on international studies. He is an active member of the Childhood Leukemia International Consortium, which conducts pooled analyses and multi-center investigations into childhood cancer etiologies. In July 2025, he delivered his Inaugural Professorial Lecture at the University of Otago, highlighting his contributions to public health and epidemiology.
Dockerty's research specializes in epidemiology and child health, with a particular focus on the causes of cancer in children. His methodological approaches encompass studies of time trends and ethnic differences in cancer incidence, spatial clustering analyses, case-control studies, and evaluations of cancer survival rates. He has also examined the psychological, social, and economic impacts of childhood cancer through both quantitative and qualitative research methods, alongside systematic reviews and pooled international data analyses. Key publications include 'The Childhood Leukemia International Consortium' in Cancer Epidemiology (2013), 'Living on a farm, contact with farm animals and pets, and childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia: Pooled and meta-analyses from the Childhood Leukemia International Consortium' in Cancer Medicine (2018), 'Fetal growth and childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia: Findings from the Childhood Leukemia International Consortium' in International Journal of Cancer (2013), 'Childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia and indicators of early immune stimulation: A Childhood Leukemia International Consortium Study' in American Journal of Epidemiology (2015), and 'Maternal supplementation with folic acid and other vitamins and risk of leukemia in offspring: A Childhood Leukemia International Consortium Study' in Epidemiology (2014). These works underscore his influence in advancing understanding of childhood leukemia risk factors via large-scale collaborative efforts.
