In 2014 she was appointed as a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her services to health[1] and in 2019 she was appointed Professor Emeritus in recognition of her long and distinguished service to the University.

Her research in the measurement of body composition, energy expenditure, physical activity, nutrition and risk factors for disease, as well as her interest in ethnic differences in health have produced over 270 publications.

[2] She is involved with projects to improve health outcomes in children, including those whose mothers had gestational diabetes during pregnancy.

[3] Rush was the scientific director of the New Zealand Nutrition Foundation from 2006 to 2013.

[5] She has been an expert consultant for the World Health Organization and the International Atomic Energy Agency as well as adjunct professor at the Cork Institute of Technology.