Professor Neil Pearce

Neil has a broad range of research interests with a common theme of applied epidemiological and biostatistical methods, particularly methods of study design and data analysis for non-communicable diseases (NCDs). In terms of substantive research, during 1980-1988 his main research interest was in occupational epidemiology, and during this time he co-authored the leading textbook of occupational epidemiology, published by Oxford University Press in 1989. During the 1990s, at the Wellington Asthma Research group, he conducted a wide range of research projects including the identification of the role of the asthma drug fenoterol in the New Zealand asthma mortality epidemic, studies of the management of asthma in the community, and more recently studies of the causes of the increases in asthma prevalence in New Zealand and worldwide. He co-authored a textbook of asthma epidemiology which was published by Oxford University Press in 1998. During his ten years at the Massey University Centre for Public Health Research, he conducted a wide range of public health research including respiratory disease, cancer, diabetes, Maori health, Pacific health and occupational and environmental health research. His current research interests focus on epidemiological and biostatistical methods, and their application to studies of neurological disease, occupational and environmental health, asthma, cancer, and health inequalities.