Rate My Professor Merilyn Hibma

Professor Merilyn Hibma is a Professor in the Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine, Dunedin School of Medicine, University of Otago. She holds BSc, MSc, and PhD degrees from the University of Otago. Following her doctoral studies, she undertook postdoctoral research at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund laboratory at the University of Cambridge with Lionel Crawford. Awarded a Health Research Council of New Zealand Repatriation Fellowship, she repatriated to a faculty position in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Otago. In 2014, she was appointed to the Department of Pathology, advancing to full professor status.

Her research examines immune regulation and its contribution to skin pathogenesis, with a focus on viral regulation of cell function and immunity in the skin, particularly human papillomavirus (HPV) and cancer. HPV causes persistent infections of cutaneous and mucosal epithelia and is the causal agent of cervical cancer. Despite effective prophylactic vaccines for major oncogenic types, therapeutics remain needed for infected individuals. Professor Hibma investigates HPV modulation of immunity and develops immunotherapeutics. Notable publications include 'The Epithelial Immune Response to Human Papillomavirus Infection' (Roy-Biswas and Hibma, 2025, Pathogens); 'Large Extracellular Vesicles from Keratinocytes Expressing Human Papillomavirus Type 16 E6/E7 Suppress Langerhans-like Cell CD8+ T Cell Priming and IL-12 Expression' (Ticar et al., 2025, Immunology); 'Point-of-care-testing is definitely the way to go': Primary healthcare professionals in rural Aotearoa New Zealand talk about point-of-care testing for cervical cancer prevention' (Sparkes et al., 2026, Journal of Primary Health Care); 'The Immune Response to Papillomavirus During Infection' (Hibma, 2012); and 'Transcriptional Repression of E-Cadherin by Human Papillomavirus Type 16 E6' (2012). With approximately 1,800 citations, her work has advanced knowledge of HPV immune evasion, cervical intraepithelial neoplasia, and screening strategies in rural and Pacific contexts.