Dr Nigel French

Massey University and New Zealand Food Safety Science and Research Centre, New Zealand

Member since 2020

Dr French is Distinguished Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Public Health at Massey University, New Zealand and Emeritus Director of the New Zealand Food Safety Science and Research Centre (NZFSSRC). He established the NZFSSRC and was appointed as inaugural Director in 2016. Nigel was born and educated in the UK and moved to New Zealand in 2004. He graduated in Veterinary Science at the University of Bristol and worked briefly in veterinary practice before undertaking a Masters (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine), PhD (University of Bristol), and a postdoctoral fellowship in clinical epidemiology, funded by the UK Wellcome Trust. He is Chief Science Advisor for Te Niwha, the Infectious Diseases Research Platform, and Executive Director of Massey University’s Infectious Disease Research Centre, specialising in research and training in molecular and genomic epidemiology, food safety and the control of infectious diseases. He has worked closely with Government and industry on the control of foodborne pathogens, in particular the source attribution, genomic epidemiology and control of campylobacteriosis, STEC infections and salmonellosis. Nigel is a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand, a Fellow of Food Standards Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ), and an Honorary Fellow of the Australian and New Zealand College of Veterinary Scientists. He also holds an honorary professorship at the University of Otago Medical School in New Zealand. He was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2023, for services to epidemiology.