Gillian Abel is a New Zealand public health researcher and as of 2021 head of the Department of Population Health at the University of Otago in Christchurch.
After a receiving a diploma from Cape Peninsula University of Technology in Cape Town, Abel moved to New Zealand in 1997 to work at the University of Otago.
[1] She graduated from Otago in 2010 with a PhD titled "Decriminalisation: A harm minimisation and human rights approach to regulating sex work".
In December 2019 Abel was promoted to full professor in the Department of Population Health at Otago with effect from 1 February 2020.
Abel was involved in leading an influential research project funded by the Health Research Council, which analyzed the impact of the Prostitution Reform Act on the lives of sex workers.