Rate My Professor Tony Walls

Professor Tony Walls serves as Professor of Paediatrics and Head of the Department of Paediatrics at the University of Otago, Christchurch, within the Division of Health Sciences. He graduated from the University of Otago with an MB ChB and holds qualifications including DCH, PGDipTertT(Otago), MD(Lond), and FRACP. Walls trained in general paediatrics at Christchurch and Dunedin Hospitals before pursuing specialist training in paediatric infectious diseases at the Royal London Hospital and Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children in London. He earned his MD from the University of London, researching adenovirus infections in children following bone marrow transplantation. Subsequently, he worked as a consultant paediatric infectious diseases specialist at Sydney Children’s Hospital, leading the Paediatric HIV Service, prior to his return to New Zealand.

Walls' academic interests focus on the epidemiology of paediatric infections, including Kingella kingae in preschool children, optimisation of antibiotic prescribing, vaccine impacts on child health, and global health education in paediatrics. He is Co-Director of Research for Children Aotearoa and contributes to national vaccine policy as an advisor to PHARMAC and the Ministry of Health, authoring sections of the National Immunisation Handbook. His leadership extends to chairing the Infection and Immunisation Special Interest Group of the Paediatric Society of New Zealand, membership on the Australian and New Zealand Paediatric Infectious Diseases Committee and the Australasian Society of Infectious Diseases Clinical Research Network, and serving on the board of the World Society of Pediatric Infectious Diseases. At the University of Otago, he convenes the fifth-year paediatrics programme, co-convenes professional development for senior medical students, leads the Global Health Classroom, and organises the annual George Abbott Symposium. Recent key publications include Anglemyer et al. (2025) 'Large reductions in invasive pneumococcal disease and related morbidities among children in New Zealand after change from PCV10 to PCV13' in the Journal of Infectious Diseases; Cosgrove et al. (2025) 'HPV vaccination in Aotearoa New Zealand: Impact of a school-based program on adolescent vaccine coverage' in Vaccine; De Marco et al. (2025) 'Inefficiency of Kocher and Caird's criteria in septic arthritis of the hip due to Kingella kingae' in Microorganisms; and Bryant et al. (2025) 'Follow-up and outcomes of infants perinatally-exposed to HIV in a low-prevalence setting' in the Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society.