Rate My Professor Pauline Norris

Professor Pauline Norris is a Research Professor in the Division of Health Sciences at the University of Otago, based at Va'a o Tautai – Centre for Pacific Health. She holds a BA, MA, and PhD, having completed her doctorate in 1993 at Victoria University of Wellington with a thesis titled 'The negotiation and re-negotiation of occupational control: a study of retail pharmacy in New Zealand, 1930-1990'. Norris has held the position of Professor of Social Pharmacy at the University of Otago's School of Pharmacy since September 2001 and was promoted to full professor in 2019. Employed by the Division of Health Sciences to strengthen health services research, her career focuses on qualitative investigations into medicines access and utilization.

Norris specializes in social pharmacy, examining how lay people use medicines, barriers to access for disadvantaged groups and populations in New Zealand and the Pacific, ethnic differences in prescription medication affordability, and health-seeking behaviors in regions such as Indonesia, Pakistan, and Polynesia. Key publications include 'Health-seeking behavior of people in Indonesia: A narrative review' (2020, Journal of Epidemiology and Global Health, 229 citations), 'A systematic review of the use of simulated patients and pharmacy practice research' (2006, International Journal of Pharmacy Practice, 220 citations), 'Relationships between health and culture in Polynesia–A review' (2009, Social Science & Medicine, 175 citations), 'Ethnic differences in access to prescription medication because of cost in New Zealand' (2011, Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, 118 citations), and 'Medicine-taking practices in community-dwelling people aged ≥75 years in New Zealand' (2010, Age and Ageing, 112 citations). Her work has amassed over 3,000 citations on Google Scholar. Norris received the 2023 Health Services Research Association of Australia and New Zealand (HSRAANZ) Impact Award and Highly Commended Best Paper Overall. She contributes to Health Research Council-funded projects on prescription drug impacts and advocates for policy changes to enhance equitable medicines access.