Prof Michael Baker

Michael is a public health physician and Professor in the Department of Public Health, University of Otago, Wellington. He is passionate about opportunities to organise society in ways that promote health, equity and sustainability.

Michael has been a full-time staff member at the University of Otago since 2003. In 2015 he was the NZ-UK Link Foundation Visiting Professor at the School of Advanced Study (SAS), University of London. And in 2023 he was a visiting Fellow at the Norwegian Centre for Advanced Study (CAS).

His work during 2020-22 was dominated by assisting with the Covid-19 pandemic response. Michael is a member of the Ministry of Health's Covid-19 Technical Advisory Group and has been a leading architect and advocate for the Covid-19 elimination strategy. He established a programme of research on the epidemiology, prevention and control of Covid-19 in NZ and internationally (Co-Search), which has generated a large amount of published research and commentary aimed at improving the pandemic response.

Michael has a wide range of public health research interests, with a focus on infectious diseases, environmental health, and improving housing conditions. Specific research areas include:

Infectious disease epidemiology
COVID‑19, including epidemiology, elimination strategy, control measures
Emerging infectious diseases, including pandemic influenza
Food safety and enteric diseases, e.g. campylobacteriosis
Zoonoses and One Health
Immunisation and vaccine preventable diseases
Health effects of household crowding, healthy housing
Rheumatic fever, skin infections, chronic effects of infectious diseases
Seasonality of disease, health effects of climate change, e.g. on infectious diseases
Environmental health, drinking water quality, water pollutants, e.g. nitrates
Drug law reform and harm minimisation, e.g. needle exchange programme
Public health services organisation and capacity, e.g. surveillance and outbreak investigation
Global health security, e.g. the International Health Regulations (IHR 2005)

Michael has a strong interest in science communication. In 2023 he launched the Public Health Communications Centre where he is its inaugural director.

Michael has worked in a range of roles, including being a medical advisor to a Minister of Health, for regional public health services, at a Crown Research Institute (ESR), and for the World Health Organisation in Manila and Geneva.