Dr Newton-Howes graduated in medicine from the University of Otago in 1998 and undertook his training in Psychiatry on the St Marys and Charing Cross training schemes in London. He has worked as a general adult psychiatrist and currently works in the Regional Personality Disorder Service for Capital and Cost District Health Board in New Zealand and as a senior lecturer in the department of psychological medicine at the University of Otago, Wellington. His research interest include the effect of personality on mental state disorder and the interactions between psychiatry and society.