Rate My Professor Melissa Purnell

Dr. Melissa Purnell serves as Senior Teaching Fellow in Epidemiology and Public Health in the Department of Public Health at the University of Otago, Dunedin. She earned her BSc, MSc in Neurobiology, Postgraduate Certificate in Health Sciences (Occupational Health), and PhD from the Department of Public Health in 2006. Her doctoral thesis, completed during a Health Research Council Training Fellowship, examined sleep, alertness, performance, and fatigue management among workers on extended duration and irregular night shifts. Before assuming her current full-time teaching position, Purnell held roles as a university-based researcher, private consultant to government and commercial entities, and science communicator, with a focus on occupational health, injury prevention, and mental health. Her expertise informs her teaching in courses including POPH192 Population Health, Early Learning in Medicine 2, and Early Learning in Medicine 3.

Purnell's research interests lie in occupational epidemiology, neurobiology, injury prevention, and mental health. Notable publications include 'Typologies of women who have sexually offended: Exploring psychosocial, developmental and motivational characteristics' (Patterson et al., Psychiatry, Psychology & Law, 2025), 'Examining the long-term cognitive effects of exposure to the Canterbury earthquakes in a resilient cohort' (Bell et al., BJPsych Open, 2022), 'The influence of bed-sharing on infant physiology, breastfeeding and behaviour: A systematic review' (Baddock et al., Sleep Medicine Reviews, 2019), 'A systematic review of infant physiology and behaviour during overnight infant/adult bedsharing' (Baddock et al., Journal of Sleep Research, 2018), and 'Correct use of child restraints: Methodology development' (Simpson et al., commissioned report, 2011). These works address critical areas such as offender typologies, trauma-related cognitive impacts, safe infant sleep practices, and child safety methodologies, contributing to public health knowledge in epidemiology and prevention.