Rate My Professor Stella Cameron

Dr Stella Cameron is an educator and researcher affiliated with the University of Otago, holding a PhD in neuroscience from the Department of Anatomy. She completed her doctoral thesis, titled 'The pathophysiology of the cerebello-thalamic pathway in Parkinson's disease,' in 2019. Prior to her PhD, she earned an MSc at the University of Otago. Her research during postgraduate studies centered on Parkinson's disease pathophysiology, including alterations in deep cerebellar nuclei activity in chronic rat models. She presented this work at the 2016 Basal Ganglia Gordon Research Seminar. Dr Cameron possesses expertise in behavioral neuroscience, behavioral analysis, neurophysiology, electrophysiology, in vivo electrophysiology, stereotaxic surgery, optogenetics, immunohistochemistry, neurodegeneration, and neuroanatomy. She engaged in public outreach through joint presentations with Dr Louise Parr-Brownlie at the NZ International Science Festival 2016 and BiteSize Science events on future Parkinson's treatments. A key publication is 'Delayed Post-Treatment with Bone Marrow-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells Is Neurorestorative of Striatal Medium-Spiny Projection Neurons and Improves Motor Function After Neonatal Rat Hypoxia-Ischemia,' published in Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience in March 2015. She was part of the Basal Ganglia Research Group and acknowledged in recent studies on menstrual apps in healthcare.

Currently, Dr Cameron serves as Pathway DipSci Paper Co-ordinator and Pathway Teacher in the Pathway and English Language Centre. She teaches introductory diploma papers: PTWY131 Introduction to the Human Body, PTWY132 Introduction to Plant Life, and PTWY103 Academic Skills for University Success. As Pacific Island Liaison for Foundation Year and Diploma tauira at Te Huarahi / Pathway in the Division of Sciences, she provides advice and support to Pacific students pursuing sciences at the University of Otago. Her biomedical sciences background informs her teaching passion. Dr Cameron received first place at the 2017 Otago Medical School Research Society for 'Pathophysiological and anatomical changes of the deep cerebellar nuclei in a chronic rat model of Parkinson's disease' and first prize ($1,000) from the Otago Postgraduate Medical Society in 2018, supervised by Dr Louise Parr-Brownlie.