Dr Neil de Wet
Medical Officer of Health and Health Services Development Manager
Dr Neil de Wet is a public health physician, Medical Officer of Health and Health Services Development Manager for Toi Te Ora Public Health.
His interests include biophilic public health, environmental health, ecology and health, childhood obesity prevention, and science and risk communication. He is also interested in the control and prevention of infectious diseases, and leads the tuberculosis control programme. “Much of our work in public health is about prevention, and this is often about identifying and managing risks to people’s health, preventing infectious diseases and managing outbreaks. But this also requires looking beyond the immediate risks to the wider context and long term view of what affect’s people’s health,” says Dr de Wet.
“It is a real privilege and can be very rewarding to part of this long term collective social effort to help make changes that give everyone the best opportunities for good health," say Dr de Wet.
Before specialising in public health Dr de Wet spent some years working in the area of ecology and health in New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. Prior to that he worked as a junior doctor in several areas of medicine, including general medicine and surgery, accident and emergency, geriatrics and orthopaedics as well as paediatrics and paediatric infectious diseases.
Qualifications and professional memberships:
- Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery, University of Cape Town
- Master of Philosophy (Environmental Science), University of Cape Town
- Master of Public Health, University of Auckland
- Fellow of the New Zealand College of Public Health Medicine
- Fellow of the Australasian Faculty of Public Health Medicine
Medical Officer of Health Reports authored by Dr Neil de Wet:
- Biophilic Public Health: Re-imagining Public Health for the 21st Century
- Health for all: an essential transition in our thinking
- Childhood obesity prevention: Creating change to 'shift the curve'
- Sugary drinks, health and individual responsibility
- Childhood obesity prevention – What will it take to change our food environments and where do we start?
- Leading the charge on preventing childhood obesity
- Tuberculosis epidemiology and control
- Data and information for action, smokefree spaces and local alcohol policies
- Syphilis: a re-emerging disease
Read more about Biophilic Public Health
Updated 22 Apr, 2021