Helen Heffernan

Helen Mary Heffernan is a New Zealand microbiologist, specialising in antibiotic resistance. In 2020, she was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to health. The Institute of Environmental Science and Research awarded Heffernan their Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018.

Academic career Heffernan earned a Bachelor of Science with Honours from the University of Otago. She worked at New Zealand's National Health Institute and the Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR), a Crown Research Institute.

Heffernan's research involved the development of cold chain standards, which are important for the safe management and storage of vaccines. She spoke about New Zealand's place in the 'global antimicrobial crisis' at the One Health symposium in 2017. She also represented New Zealand at regional meetings in the Pacific, and at the World Health Organization's workshop on Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance.

Selected works