Rate My Professor Sarah Beaumont

Sarah Beaumont serves as a Teaching Fellow in the Department of Preventive and Social Medicine at the University of Otago, contributing to teaching and research in public health. The department, part of the Division of Health Sciences, is dedicated to addressing public health challenges through research in epidemiology, injury prevention, cancer epidemiology, occupational health, and social and behavioural research. Beaumont's role involves direct engagement with students and support for departmental initiatives.

Beaumont earned her Master of Science degree from the University of Otago in 2015. Her thesis, "Demographic, socioeconomic and nutritional status of preschool children in rural Kenya," provided valuable insights into the nutritional health of young children in developing contexts. Building on this, she participated in University of Otago's human nutrition research efforts in Africa, collaborating with Professor Rosalind Gibson, Dr. Rachel Brown, Dr. Karl Bailey, and Beth Gray on projects aimed at improving preschool nutrition in Kenya. A key outcome was her co-authorship on the 2019 paper "Micronutrient status differs among Maasai and Kamba preschoolers participating in a supplementary feeding program in southern Kenya," published in Maternal and Child Nutrition. The study revealed ethnic differences in iron, zinc, and vitamin B12 status despite supplementation, highlighting the need for tailored nutrition interventions.

In recent years, Beaumont has extended her expertise to public health research on ageing and mobility. She managed project logistics and data collection for the New Zealand Prospective Older Adults Transport and Health Study (NZPATHS), a longitudinal study examining transport, health, and wellbeing in older New Zealanders. Her contributions are acknowledged in several publications from the study, including "Medical fitness to drive assessment with older drivers: implications for policy" (2020, Journal of Transport & Health), "Older drivers and their future mobility" (2019, Journal of Aging and Health), "How Does Driving Anxiety Relate to the Health and Quality of Life of Older Drivers?" (2021), "Planning for driving cessation: a cross-sectional study" (2025), and "Transport practices of Māori Kaumātua (Indigenous elders) in Aotearoa New Zealand" (2025, BMC Public Health). These works underscore her impact on research informing policy for safe mobility in ageing populations.