Rachael McLean

Rachael Mira McLean is a New Zealand public health physician and academic, and is a full professor at the University of Otago. Her research focuses on the public health consequences of nutritional and dietary choices, and includes the relationship between diet and chronic disease.

Academic career

McLean completed a Master of Public Health followed by a PhD titled Sodium in New Zealand: intake, consumer perceptions, and implications for chronic disease at the University of Otago. McLean then joined the faculty of the Department of Preventative and Social Medicine at Otago, rising to associate professor in 2020 and full professor in 2024. McLean is a part of the Edgar National Centre for Diabetes Research.

McLean's research focuses on the environmental factors that affect people's dietary choices, and the relationship between diet and chronic diseases such as heart disease and diabetes. McLean's research on the measurement of salt intake has contributed to international best practice, and national and international dietary recommendations. She has called for a reduction in salt levels in food, to meet World Health Organisation targets. McLean was part of a research team that investigated 'traffic light' labels for salt in food, and found that such a labelling system would improve nutritional choices by New Zealand consumers. She has also explored the relationship between alcohol consumption and injury. McLean was part of a $2 million research programme, the Cancer Society Research Collaboration, funded by the Cancer Society. The collaboration between Otago, Massey University and Victoria University of Wellington was led by McLean, Janet Hoek, Diana Sarfati, Louise Signal, Sue Crengle, and Richard Egan, and aimed to reduce the 'incidence, impact, and inequities' of cancer in New Zealand.

McLean is on the board of trustees of St Clair School.

Selected works