Rate My Professor Sue McAllister

Dr Sue McAllister is a Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Public Health (Dunedin), Faculty of Medicine, University of Otago. Affiliated with the Centre for International Health and the HIV Epidemiology Group, she leads the latter. Trained as a registered comprehensive nurse (RN(Comp)), McAllister worked in community health projects in Nepal for several years before returning to New Zealand in 1997. She completed a Master of Public Health (MPH) and subsequently a PhD at the University of Otago in 2012. Following her MPH, she contributed to research projects in the Department of Preventive and Social Medicine and worked in the Dunedin School of Medicine's HIV Epidemiology Group. Post-PhD, she joined the Centre for International Health, collaborating with the Tuberculosis Research Group in Bandung, Indonesia, until June 2016. Currently, she divides her time between TB-related projects in the Centre for International Health and the HIV Epidemiology Group, both within the Department of Preventive and Social Medicine in Dunedin.

McAllister's research specializations include HIV/AIDS surveillance, tuberculosis control, international health, and the socioeconomic and quality-of-life consequences of illness. She has authored or co-authored over 70 publications, cited more than 870 times according to ResearchGate. Key publications include "Are we ready? Ageing of people living with HIV in Aotearoa New Zealand: HIV knowledge and attitudes among staff in aged care facilities" (Gilchrist et al., Australasian Journal on Ageing, 2026); "Should neighbours of tuberculosis (TB) cases be prioritised for active case finding in high TB-burden settings? A prospective molecular epidemiological study" (Koesoemadinata et al., BMJ Global Health, 2025); "Out-of-Pocket Costs for Patients Diagnosed with Tuberculosis during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Different Healthcare Settings in Bandung, Indonesia" (McAllister et al., Tropical Medicine & International Health, 2020); and "Do different types of financial support after illness or injury make a difference in return to work?" (McAllister et al., Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation, 2013). Her work addresses TB-diabetes comorbidity, latent TB infection, and HIV epidemiology in New Zealand and Indonesia.