Fourteen leading University of Otago academics are being promoted to full professorships, reflecting their "proven records of excellence".
The new professors are: John Brougton, oral diagnostic and surgical sciences and preventive and social medicine; Catherine Day, biochemistry; Bernadette Drummond, oral sciences; Robin Gauld, preventive and social medicine; Juergen Gnoth, marketing; Ken Hodge, physical education; Brian Hyland, physiology; Ian McLennan, anatomy; Ted Ruffman, psychology; Struan Scott, law; Jean-Claude Theis, surgical sciences; Vicky Cameron, research professor, medicine, Christchurch; Marie Crowe, psychological medicine and Centre for Postgraduate Nursing Studies, Christchurch; Andrew Day, paediatrics, Christchurch.
University vice-chancellor Prof Harlene Hayne said the promotions, which would take effect on February 1, reflected "proven records of excellence".
Associate Prof Broughton is of Ngati Kahungunu Ki Heretaunga and Ngai Tahu descent and has focused much of his research on Maori oral health.
He is participating in an international collaborative indigenous research partnership with Australian and Canadian researchers and is working with Te Manu Toroa, a community health care provider, looking at the oral health of Maori mental-health patients.
He is also an accomplished playwright whose 1991 play Michael James Manaia is to have a 20th anniversary production at the New Zealand International Arts Festival this year.
Associate Prof Catherine Day, the associate dean of research for the Otago School of Medical Sciences, has helped develop novel types of therapeutic compounds which are being trialled for cancer treatment.
Associate Prof Gauld specialises in health policy and system research and founded the Otago University Centre for Health Systems.
Associate Prof Gnoth's research is focused on consumer behaviour, tourism services marketing, place-branding and marketing ethics.
Associate Prof Hodge's area of expertise is sport and exercise psychology, with a research focus on the psycho-social effects of participation in sport.
Associate Prof Hyland is a neuroscientist, interested in understanding the brain mechanisms involved in processing information about rewards and those concerned with controlling movements, and the overlap of these apparently disparate areas in numerous neurological and psychiatric disorders.
Associate Prof McLennan is a member of the Brain Health and Repair Research Centre and had a central role in the creation of the university's Behavioural Phenotyping Unit.
Associate Prof Ruffman examines the development and subsequent decline of social understanding throughout life.
Associate Prof Scott's research interests include Banking Law; Company Law, Land Law and the Law of Restitution.
Associate Prof Theis has been an academic orthopaedic surgeon over the past 23 years and is setting up a Centre for Musculoskeletal Outcomes Research.
Associate Prof Crowe, of the Otago Christchurch campus, is principal investigator in a $1.2 million HRC-funded Bipolar Disorder Clinic study.
Associate Prof Andrew Day heads the Otago paediatrics department in Christchurch and his research interests include inflammatory bowel disease.
Associate Prof Cameron is a geneticist and cardiovascular physiologist whose research focuses on the influence of genes on the development or progression of heart disease.
She was recently elected to the Otago University Council.
Promoted to associate professor:Robert Aitken, marketing; Phil Bishop, zoology; Mike Boyes, physical education; Chris Brickell, sociology, gender and social work; Colin Brown, physiology; Warwick Duncan, oral sciences; Dawn Elder, paediatrics and child health, Wellington; David Gwynne-Jones, surgical sciences; Graeme Hammond-Tooke, medicine; Andrew Harrison, medicine, Wellington; Penny Hunt, medicine, Christchurch; Chrystal Jaye, general practice and rural health; Ali Knott, computer science; Brent Lovelock, tourism; Karl Lyons, oral rehabilitation; James Maclaurin, philosophy; David McBride, preventive and social medicine; Tony Merriman, biochemistry; Selene Mize, law; Sue Pullon, primary health care and general practice, Wellington; Anthony Ritchie, music; Katrina Sharples, preventive and social medicine; Takashi Shogimen, history; Zhifa Sun, physics; Lois Surgenor, psychological medicine, Christchurch; Mark Thompson-Fawcett, surgical sciences; Lisa Whitehead, Centre for Postgraduate Nursing Studies; Cheryl Wilson, applied sciences; Clinical associate professor: Antony Bird, surgery, Christchurch; Research associate professor: Simon Hales, public health, Wellington; Tony Reeder, Katrina Sharples, both preventive and social medicine; Nicola Taylor, centre for research on children and families.