Sunny Collings

Sunny Collings
Collings in 2025
Academic background
Alma materUniversity of Otago
Thesis
  • Informal carers of people with schizophrenia in New Zealand: their health, circumstances and adjustment.[1] (2006)
Academic work
InstitutionsVictoria University of Wellington
University of Otago
Health Research Council of New Zealand
Doctoral studentsFelicity Goodyear-Smith

Catherine Diane Collings, known as Sunny, is a New Zealand psychiatrist and health executive, and was a full professor at the University of Otago, specialising in suicide prevention. She was chief executive of the Health Research Council of New Zealand, before being appointed in 2025 to lead the Health Quality and Safety Commission.

Academic career

Collings completed a medical degree at the University of Otago, graduating in 1984.[2] She worked as a general practitioner and completed psychiatric training at the Maudsley Hospital and the Royal Free Hospital in London, where she studied bulimia nervosa with Professor Michael King.[2][3] Collings also holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Public Health (with Distinction) and a PhD, both from Otago.[2] Collings joined the faculty of the University of Otago as a senior lecturer in 1991, rising to full professor in 2011.[4][5] She has also supervised doctoral students in the School of Health at Victoria University of Wellington and at the University of Auckland. One of her notable doctoral students is Felicity Goodyear-Smith.[6][7] Collings is a Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists.[8]

Collings's research focuses on mental health, self-harm and suicide prevention, although she has also published on other topics such as ethics and food security.[3][5][9] She is a board member of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission.[10][11] Collings was an expert adviser on an inquest into the deaths of four teenage girls in Flaxmere.[12]

Collings was Dean and Head of Campus at the University of Otago, Wellington for nine years.[13] In 2019 she was appointed as the chief executive of the Health Research Council.[8][13] In July 2025 she was appointed CEO of Te Tāhū Hauora Health Quality & Safety Commission.[14][15]

Selected works

References

  1. ^ Collings, Catherine (Sunny) Diane (2006). Informal carers of people with schizophrenia in New Zealand: their health, circumstances and adjustment (PhD). OCLC 980548974.
  2. ^ a b c "University of Otago announces new Wellington campus Dean". Scoop. 2 February 2011. Retrieved 13 August 2025.
  3. ^ a b "Otago staff leading mental health study". Otago Daily Times. 6 February 2009. Retrieved 13 August 2025.
  4. ^ University of Otago calendar (PDF). Dunedin: University of Otago. 2015. p. 107. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 March 2024. Retrieved 13 August 2025.
  5. ^ a b Magazine, Otago (5 April 2017). "Being the change". University of Otago. Archived from the original on 14 June 2025. Retrieved 13 August 2025.
  6. ^ Goodyear-Smith, Felicity (2011). Evolution of the eCHAT: Case-finding to improve health and happiness (Doctoral thesis). ResearchSpace@Auckland, University of Auckland. hdl:2292/10622.
  7. ^ "Discovery: Sunny Collings". Victoria University of Wellington. Archived from the original on 16 February 2025. Retrieved 17 August 2025.
  8. ^ a b Board, Otago Bulletin (3 December 2019). "Wellington Dean prepares to sign off from 'best job in the world'". University of Otago. Retrieved 13 August 2025.
  9. ^ "Desperately seeking the stressed and distressed". Stuff. 31 January 2009. Retrieved 13 August 2025.
  10. ^ "Mental health: More patients seen in primary care but access to specialists unchanged | New Zealand Doctor". www.nzdoctor.co.nz. 14 August 2025. Retrieved 13 August 2025.
  11. ^ "Governance". Te Hiringa Mahara—Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission. Archived from the original on 8 March 2024. Retrieved 17 August 2025.
  12. ^ Hawkes Bay Today (11 May 2016). "Bullying a factor in teens' deaths". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 13 August 2025.
  13. ^ a b "Health Research Council appoints new chief executive". Health Research Council of New Zealand. 25 October 2019. Retrieved 13 August 2025.
  14. ^ "Professor Sunny Collings appointed CE of Te Tāhū Hauora Health Quality & Safety Commission". Te Tāhū Hauora Health Quality & Safety Commission. Retrieved 13 August 2025.
  15. ^ "HRC chief executive to step down". Health Research Council of New Zealand. 3 July 2025. Archived from the original on 6 July 2025. Retrieved 13 August 2025.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.