Our People
Briar Campbell
A proud Kiwi RCompN, Diploma of Nursing, Bachelor of Tourism Management (Victoria), Post Graduate Diploma Travel Medicine (Otago), Committee Member of the New Zealand Society of Travel Medicine (NZSTM) and Past Secretary NZSTM, Founding member International Society of Travel Medicine Nurses Steering Group Committee, Past Assistant Convenor of Post Graduate Diploma Travel Medicine.
Briar has a passion for all things travel and travel medicine having primarily practiced as a nurse specialist and manager in this field, both here and in the central London since 2005. In addition to this she has had the added task of working with major corporate clients; New Zealand Police Overseas Deployments and the Red Cross, working closely and under the guidance of colleague and member of the team - Dr Jenny Visser. She has co-authored academic papers and presented at local health agencies in NZ-Aotearoa as well as international meetings and destinations.
Day to day she specialises primarily in the identification of health risks and advise on prevention management of health issues or to minimize those risks associated with travel. Vaccination is also pivotal to her role here @ the Wellington Travel Clinic, as such she is a Te Whatu Ora Authorised Vaccinator. In conjunction with her nursing experience, personal travel experiences have enabled her to understand traveller’s needs, expectations and she loves hearing about prospective travels of intrepid kiwis.
In 1996 equipped with a backpack, working visa, an open mind and sense of adventure. Briar set out on an extended OE that spanned several years and continents, visiting and working with diverse cultures and customs. Eastern and Southern Africa remain the standouts, but China, India and South East Asia come in a close second, along with Scandinavia and Argentina. Australia’s West, Northern Queensland and Northern Territory offered a unique view of most travellers’ itineraries to the other side of the ditch and she was lucky enough to spend several months exploring Canada from British Columbia to Nova Scotia
Beyond travel medicine territory, personally I enjoy sports and exploring our great outdoors, tramping, biking, kayaking ….. Will give anything a go. But, I haven’t hung up the backpack just yet!
Dr Jenny Visser
FRNZCGPs, Post Graduate Diploma Travel Medicine (Otago), Masters Travel Medicine (Otago), Fellow International Society Travel Medicine, President Asia Pacific Travel Health Society, Past President New Zealand Society of Travel Medicine.
Jenny is has been practicing travel medicine for 22 years coming from a background in general practice. She developed this as a specialist interest largely fueled by her love of travel. She always enjoys hearing about travellers’ plans and takes great pleasure in being able to advise them on how to reduce the risk of travel-related health issues. In that time she has advised many individual travelers as well as employers, governmental and non-governmental organisations.
She holds both a Postgraduate Diploma and a Masters in Travel Medicine. When not working at the Wellington Travel Clinic she is a Senior Lecturer for the Wellington campus of the University of Otago where she is the academic lead for Otago University’s postgraduate studies in Travel Medicine. As well as teaching at a postgraduate level she undertakes research in Travel Medicine and has published a number of academic papers and contributed to two Travel Medicine textbooks.
She has a special interest in expedition, wilderness and high altitude medicine. She has spent time as a volunteer doctor at a high altitude rescue post in Nepal, nine summers as ship’s doctor in Antarctica and been the doctor on many expeditions, including one summiting Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. She has also been the film crew doctor on location in remote Bougainville, Papua New Guinea. Her personal travels have taken her and her husband across all continents; back packing, cycle touring and trekking being their preferred modes of travel. Travels continued after the arrival of their son, including trips in the Pacific, Australia, Southern Africa and South East Asia.
Dr Michelle Wilson
MBChB, FRNZCGP, Post Graduate Diploma of Travel Medicine (Otago) is a GP with an interest in Travel Medicine which has come out of her own love of travelling. Her own travel experience includes 3 months travelling in South East Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand), 3 months in Tonga in her final year of medical school, and 6 months backpacking in India in Nepal, including trekking in the Indian Himalayas, on the way to an OE in the UK, working in North Wales and Scotland.
Michelle has been working in Travel Medicine since she completed her Travel Medicine Diploma in 2006. She had a break in 2011-12 for family travel when, inspired by hearing exciting travel plans through work, she spent 3 1/2 months in South America (Argentina, Bolivia and Peru) and Panama, giving her 4, 8 and 12 year old sons an incredible exposure to new cultures and adventures. This was followed by a year working in Rural Far North Queensland in the beautiful Atherton Tablelands. She returned to New Zealand with a renewed desire to explore her own country, including tramping and cycling holidays (including completing all the Great Walks).
She is currently working in General practice, as well as doing some work for the Wellington School of Medicine teaching medical students, and is really excited to be able to practice Travel Medicine again.
Dr Joanna Joseph
Is a former GP who retrained in Travel Medicine, completing the Postgraduate Diploma in Travel Medicine through Otago University in 2016. She worked at The Travel Doctor clinic in Wellington from 2017 to 2020, as well as working in Clinical Research doing pharmaceutical and vaccine trials, and at Wellington Accident & Urgent Medical Centre as a locum, as well as serving on the WAMC board. She helped set up The Wellington Travel Clinic in mid-2022 and is very much enjoying being able to help travellers plan safe healthy holidays.
Joanna has always loved to travel, and has visited many countries: after backpacking around Europe as a teenager, she spent her medical student electives in Canada, and then after GP training in Edinburgh, had a year off travelling in the USA & Central America, across South East Asia and Australia, and on an overland trip around Southern Africa. She worked in Sydney for a year prior to settling in New Zealand in 2001, and did another overland trip in South America in 2002, as well as expedition cruises to the Antarctic and around Svalbard in the Arctic. She loves sea kayaking and has paddled extensively in New Zealand, as well as in Thailand and Fiji.