Dr Neil de Wet is a Public Health Medicine Specialist from Aotearoa New Zealand. In a medical, environmental and public health career spanning 30 years of practice, he has had the role of Medical Officer of Health for the Bay of Plenty region, and more recently for the Taranaki region under the gaze of Mount Taranaki on the west coast of the North Island.
With experience in health protection and health promotion, he has expertise in infectious disease control, outbreak prevention and management, emergency management, environmental health, ecology and health, public health risk assessment and risk communication. Before specialising in public health medicine, he undertook research and published on topics related to climate change, ecology and health in New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.
In recent years, he has had a focus on exploring how the ideas and principles of biophilic theory, biophilic design and the biophilic cities movement can be applied to the practice of public health. In so doing, he has led work exploring and developing the concept of biophilic public health as a model of public health practice that is defined by our innate ‘love, awe and respect’ for nature. Recognising the centrality of our relationship and connectedness with nature for our own health and wellbeing, while also respecting the intrinsic value and worth of other species, a biophilic public health approach aims to create, foster and positively influence the conditions that allow the health of people, other species and ecosystems to thrive. Biophilic public health therefore has a focus on ‘health for all’, where ‘health for all’ is not only about the health of all people but also about the health of other species and ecosystems.
Qualifications and professional memberships:
– Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery
– Master of Philosophy (Environmental Science)
– Master of Public Health
– New Zealand Medical Council Vocational Registration (Public Health Medicine)
– Fellow of the New Zealand College of Public Health Medicine (NZCPHM)
– Fellow of the Australasian Faculty of Public Health Medicine (AFPHM)