Dr Russell Wills, Children's Commissioner, New Zealand
ADDRESS: Hard-earned lessons: The history and future of child protection in New Zealand
Dr Russell Wills is a community and general paediatrician at
Hawke’s Bay District Health Board in
Hastings and
was appointed as Children’s Commissioner on 1st July 2011.
He trained in medicine in Otago and did his paediatric
training in Hampshire and Australia
including community paediatric training and a Master of Public Health degree in Brisbane.
Russell was National Paediatrician for Plunket, a senior lecturer at the Wellington School of
Medicine and a Community Paediatrician at Wellington
Hospital from 1999-2001. He has been a general and community paediatrician at
Hawke’s Bay Hospital
in Hastings
since August 2001, recently as Head
of Department and Clinical Director until taking up the current appointment.
Russell has led a number of programmes in family
violence
intervention and intersectoral community interventions for children and
young
people. He has held leadership roles in community paediatrics with the
Paediatric Society of New Zealand and the Royal Australasian College of
Physicians, and has contributed to publications, national guidelines and
projects on autism, family violence,
child abuse and medical aspects of children in Child,
Youth and Family care.
