Louise Nadine Signal is a New Zealand academic, and is a full professor at the

University of Otago The University of Otago () is a public university, public research university, research collegiate university based in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand. Founded in 1869, Otago is New Zealand's oldest university and one of the oldest universities in ...

, specialising in researching public health policy and promotion, inequities in healthcare, and environmental determinants of health.

Academic career

Signal has a Bachelor of Arts from

Massey University Massey University () is a Public university, public research university in New Zealand that provides internal and distance education. The university has campuses in Auckland, Palmerston North, and Wellington. Data from Universities New Zealand ...

, and a

Master of Social Science A Master of Social Science (MSocSc, MSSc or MSS) is a master's degree which has a number of different meanings dependent upon the education system in question. Europe In Finland and Sweden, where the university degree nomenclatura is simply bas ...

from the

University of Waikato The University of Waikato (), established in 1964, is a Public university, public research university located in Hamilton, New Zealand, Hamilton, New Zealand. An additional campus is located in Tauranga. The university performs research in nume ...

, which she completed in 1983. Her master's thesis was on the evaluation of a

marae A ' (in Māori language, New Zealand Māori, Cook Islands Māori, Tahitian language, Tahitian), ' (in Tongan language, Tongan), ' (in Marquesan language, Marquesan) or ' (in Samoan language, Samoan) is a communal or sacred place that serves reli ...

-based training programme for young people. Signal then completed a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

titled ''The politics of the Ontario Premier's Council on Health Strategy: a case study in the new public health.'' at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

in 1994. Signal then joined the faculty of the University of Otago, rising to full professor in 2018. As of 2024, she is the Director of the Health Promotion and Policy Research Unit at the University of Otago, Wellington, and also Head of the Department of Public Health. Signal's public health research focuses on environmental determinants of health,

health promotion Health promotion is, as stated in the 1986 World Health Organization (WHO) Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, the "process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve their health." Scope The WHO's 1986 Ottawa Charter for ...

and policy, and

health inequities Health equity arises from access to the social determinants of health, specifically from wealth, power and prestige. Individuals who have consistently been deprived of these three determinants are significantly disadvantaged from health inequit ...

, especially in low-income communities. She has investigated inequities in cancer treatment for Māori, exposure of children to harmful advertising, obesity prevention, and led a project in New Zealand and

Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...

using automated cameras to record children's lives. Alongside colleagues Janet Hoek, Richard Egan and Christina McKerchar, Signal is Co-Director of the Te Rōpū Rangahau ō Te Kāhui Matepukupuku: Cancer Society Research Collaboration, a five-year research initiative aiming to reduce both the incidence of cancer and its impact, and also to address systemic inequities.

Selected works

Book

* Louise Signal and Mihi Ratima (eds). ''Promoting Health in Aotearoa New Zealand.'' Otago University Press (2015) ISBN 9781877578823

Journal articles

* * * * * * *

References

External links

20 years of EDOR: Professor Louise Signal
talk by Signal in December 2023, via YouTube {{DEFAULTSORT:Signal, Louise Year of birth missing (living people) Living people New Zealand academics New Zealand women academics University of Waikato alumni Massey University alumni University of Toronto alumni 21st-century New Zealand social scientists Academic staff of the University of Otago Public health researchers People educated at Rangitikei College