Lynn McBain

Lynn Carol McBain is a Canadian–New Zealand academic and specialised general practitioner, and is a full professor at the University of Otago, specialising in research on medical education, and primary health services. She is a Distinguished Fellow of the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners.

Academic career
McBain completed her medical training at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia. McBain then moved to New Zealand, where she initially worked as a house surgeon at Hāwera, and then worked in general practice at the Brooklyn Medical Centre in Wellington from the early 1990s until 2022. She continues to provide locum cover. McBain found she enjoyed teaching medical students that came to the medical centre, and she joined the faculty of the University of Otago in 1995 as a part time lecturer, rising to associate professor in 2018 and full professor in 2024. McBain has been the head of the Department of Primary Health Care and General Practice since 2017, and was appointed Deputy Dean at the University of Otago Wellington campus in 2022.

McBain's research focus cover both medical education and clinical practice. She is interested in how health services can be evaluated, and those findings put into practice in primary care, particularly in relation to mental health care and oral health in primary settings. She has researched the introduction of the HPV-based cervical cancer screening service in New Zealand, and is part of research on multimorbidity in the Ageing Well National Science Challenge. Her educational research interests have led her to investigate topics such as the teaching of consultation skills and physical examination skills, and care in chronic disease and palliative medicine.

McBain was appointed a Distinguished Fellow of the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners in 2011. She has served as the chair of the New Zealand Education Council's Impairment Committee, and convenor of the New Zealand Medical Council's Professional Conduct Committee. McBain has been director and deputy chair of Compass Health, a North Island primary health organisation.