Rate My Professor Mark Weatherall

Professor Mark Weatherall holds the position of Professor of Medicine in the Department of Medicine at the University of Otago, Wellington, Faculty of Medicine. He works as a consultant geriatrician for Capital and Coast Health District Health Board, with special interests in ortho-geriatrics, urinary incontinence, and rehabilitation of older adults. Weatherall demonstrates particular expertise in applied statistics, including meta-analysis of health care interventions. In his academic role, he serves as the convenor for fourth-year undergraduate teaching in Older Person's Health within the Department of Medicine, Wellington. Additionally, he teaches REHB 704 Neurological Rehabilitation and REHB 707 Rehabilitation for the Elderly in the Rehabilitation Teaching and Research Unit.

Weatherall's research focuses on respiratory medicine, asthma management, geriatric rehabilitation, and biostatistics, evidenced by over 450 publications and more than 18,000 citations. Key contributions include the Novel START study, a controlled trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2019, which showed that budesonide-formoterol as needed reduces severe asthma exacerbations in mild asthma patients compared to albuterol. This work prompted significant changes in asthma guidelines, including those from the Global Initiative for Asthma, marking it as the most important paradigm shift in asthma management in 30 years. For this research, he received the Health Research Council's Liley Medal in 2020 jointly with Mark Holliday. Other influential publications encompass 'Community ambulation after stroke: how important and obtainable is it and what measures appear predictive?' (Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 2004, cited by 930); 'Effects of cannabis on pulmonary structure, function and symptoms' (Thorax, 2007, cited by 413); 'Cannabis use and risk of lung cancer: a case-control study' (European Respiratory Journal, 2008, cited by 399); and 'Comparisons of approaches to pelvic floor muscle training for urinary incontinence in women' (Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2024, cited by 409). Recent outputs include systematic reviews and trials on anti-inflammatory reliever therapy in asthma, automated nasal high-flow oxygen titration, and budesonide-formoterol reliever strategies. His scholarship has advanced evidence-based practices in clinical trials, rehabilitation, and chronic disease management.