Rate My Professor Peter Crampton

Professor Peter Crampton is Professor of Public Health in Kōhatu, the Centre for Hauora Māori, within the Division of Health Sciences at the University of Otago in Dunedin. A specialist in public health medicine, he holds qualifications including MB ChB (1985) and PhD in Public Health from the University of Otago, DipObst from the University of Auckland, NZCPHM, and MRNZCGP. Born in Somerset, England, he moved to New Zealand at age twelve, settling in Nelson. Early in his career, he practiced general medicine in Porirua for four years and helped establish a community health services centre there. He progressed to academic leadership as Head of the Department of Public Health at the University of Otago, Wellington, Dean of the Wellington School of Medicine for three years, Dean of the Otago Medical School from 2011 to 2018, and Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the Division of Health Sciences for seven-and-a-half years until 2018. During his tenure in these roles, he contributed to significant achievements, including increases in Māori and Pacific student numbers, major building projects, and overall growth in the Division across teaching, research, and service activities. He has taught undergraduate and postgraduate courses in public health, health systems, and health services management, and served on numerous advisory panels in public health, health services, and medical education. Currently, he sits on the board of the Health Quality and Safety Commission and the Public Health Advisory Committee.

Professor Crampton's research interests encompass social indicators and social epidemiology, health care policy, health care organisation and funding, and hauora Māori, with expertise in primary health care, health system funding, and measures of socioeconomic position and inequality. He is best known for co-developing the New Zealand Deprivation Index (NZDep), a widely adopted national policy tool for assessing socioeconomic deprivation. Key publications include NZDep91: A New Zealand index of deprivation (Salmond, Crampton, Sutton, 1998), NZDep2006 index of deprivation (Salmond, Crampton, Atkinson, 2007), NZDep2013 index of deprivation (Atkinson, Salmond, Crampton, 2014), and Development of New Zealand's deprivation index (NZDep) and its uptake as a national policy tool (Salmond, Crampton, 2012). His scholarly contributions have had substantial impact on health equity research and policy in New Zealand. Among his honors is membership as Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (CNZM) for services to education and health sciences.