Elisabeth Wells

Elisabeth Wells
Academic background
Alma mater	University of Canterbury, University of Canterbury
Thesis	Some psychological parameters of verbal encoding (1970)
Academic work
Institutions	University of Toronto, Massey University, University of Otago
Doctoral students	Gillian Abel

Jessie Elisabeth Wells is a New Zealand biostatistician, and is a professor emerita at the University of Otago, specialising in epidemiology and mental health research.

Academic career

Wells completed a PhD titled Some psychological parameters of verbal encoding at the University of Canterbury. Wells completed three years of postdoctoral research at the University of Toronto, before returning to New Zealand to join the faculty of Massey University. After six years at Massey, Wells moved to the University of Otago in 1980, rising to research professor in 2010. Wells is part of the Biostatistics and Computational Biology Unit at Otago, and is based at the Christchurch campus. She was appointed professor emerita in 2013.

Wells is both a principal investigator and the principal statistician on the New Zealand Mental Health Survey, which was a survey of New Zealanders carried out over 2003 and 2004, examining occurrence, prevention, and treatment of mental health. Wells's research on the survey, alongside colleagues Magnus McGee, Joanne Baxter and Jesse Kokaua, showed that non-medical drug use was widespread in New Zealand. The most commonly used drugs were alcohol, which 94% of survey respondents had tried, and tobacco, which more than half had tried. Wells has received grants from the Health Research Council, the New Zealand Lottery Grants Board health allocation, and the Canterbury Medical Research Foundation. She has held research contracts from the Ministry of Health, Ngai Tahu Development Corporation, the Public Health Commission and the Mental Health Commission.

In 2009 Wells was awarded the university's Gold Medal for Research Excellence.

Selected works

• Myrna M. Weissman; R C Bland; G J Canino; et al. (1 July 1996). "Cross-national epidemiology of major depression and bipolar disorder". JAMA. 276 (4): 293–299. doi:10.1001/JAMA.1996.03540040037030. ISSN 0098-7484. PMID 8656541. Wikidata Q47826731.
• Kathleen R Merikangas; Robert Jin; Jian-Ping He; et al. (1 March 2011). "Prevalence and correlates of bipolar spectrum disorder in the world mental health survey initiative". JAMA Psychiatry. 68 (3): 241–251. doi:10.1001/ARCHGENPSYCHIATRY.2011.12. ISSN 2168-622X. PMC 3486639. PMID 21383262. Wikidata Q34026000.
• Philip S Wang; Sergio Aguilar-Gaxiola; Jordi Alonso; et al. (1 September 2007). "Use of mental health services for anxiety, mood, and substance disorders in 17 countries in the WHO world mental health surveys". The Lancet. 370 (9590): 841–850. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(07)61414-7. ISSN 0140-6736. PMC 2847360. PMID 17826169. Wikidata Q33760792.
• Laura Helena Andrade; J Alonso; Z Mneimneh; et al. (9 August 2013). "Barriers to mental health treatment: results from the WHO World Mental Health surveys". Psychological Medicine. 44 (6): 1303–1317. doi:10.1017/S0033291713001943. ISSN 0033-2917. PMC 4100460. PMID 23931656. Wikidata Q33908978.
• Myrna M. Weissman; Bland R; Joyce PR; Newman S; Wells JE; Hans-Ulrich Wittchen (1 October 1993). "Sex differences in rates of depression: cross-national perspectives". Journal of Affective Disorders. 29 (2–3): 77–84. doi:10.1016/0165-0327(93)90025-F. ISSN 0165-0327. PMID 8300980. Wikidata Q47252141.
• Myrna M. Weissman; R C Bland; G J Canino; et al. (1 January 1999). "Prevalence of suicide ideation and suicide attempts in nine countries". Psychological Medicine. 29 (1): 9–17. doi:10.1017/S0033291798007867. ISSN 0033-2917. PMID 10077289. Wikidata Q47725617.
• Weissman MM; Bland RC; Canino GJ; et al. (1 April 1997). "The cross-national epidemiology of panic disorder". JAMA Psychiatry. 54 (4): 305–309. doi:10.1001/ARCHPSYC.1997.01830160021003. ISSN 2168-622X. PMID 9107146. Wikidata Q47796973.