About Us - Committee Members

About Us
Committee Members

Photo of Pauline Barnett.

Pauline Barnett, NHC INTERIM CHAIR/PHAC - CHAIR
Pauline Barnett currently holds appointments as Associate Professor in the Health Sciences Centre, University of Canterbury and the Department of Public Health and General Practice at the University of Otago, Christchurch. She completed her doctorate on the changes in primary care in New Zealand at the University of Otago in 2001. She is currently a member of the Health Promotion Advisory Committee of Partnership Health PHO, the ComCare Trust Inc, and the Volunteer, Information and Support Services Advisory Committee of the Cancer Society of New Zealand. Pauline has published widely on health services restructuring and public health. She is a former National President of the Public Health Association of New Zealand and was the Association’s Public Health Champion for 2004.

Phil Shoemack
Phil Shoemack is Medical Officer of Health for the Bay of Plenty and Lakes DHBs, a position he was first appointed to in 1988. He has been a member of several Ministry of Health advisory committees covering issues such as infectious diseases, cervical screening, the immunisation against meningococcal B programme and health protection services.

His public health interests include reducing inequality in health outcomes and restoring trust in health authorities. During 2005 he worked in Vancouver on a four-month exchange with a Canadian colleague.

Maaka Tauranga Tibble
Maaka Tibble (Ngāti Porou, Te Whānau-a-Apanui) is Manager of Māori Health for Tairawhiti District Health. Prior to this he worked for Waitemata DHB as Pouwhakahaere Kaupapa for Māori Mental Health Drug & Alcohol Services (2000-2001). He has held a number of senior positions with the Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind.

In 1992 he was awarded the Cyril White Memorial Trust Award and the Sir Winston Churchill Fellowship Award. In 2002 his work was recognised when he received a Queen’s Jubilee Honour and became a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit. He is an advocate and activist for disability and mental health consumers and accordingly chairs Ngati Kapo Aotearoa Inc, an advocacy organisation of blind Māori persons and their whānau and, recently, Te Kupenga Net Trust, a mental health consumer advocacy group.Back to top

Photo of Will Taylor.

Will Taylor
Will Taylor is a clinical rheumatologist and rehabilitation physician at Hutt Hospital and Associate Professor (Rehabilitation) at the Wellington School of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Otago. He concurrently trained in rheumatology and rehabilitation medicine at Hutt Hospital and the Otara Spinal Injuries Unit, obtaining FRACP and FAFRM in 1998 followed by a Fellowship at the University of Leeds, UK during 2000. His PhD concerned clinical epidemiology of psoriatic arthritis and he continues to collaborate with international research studies of health-status measurement and response criteria in gout and psoriatic arthritis.

Robin Kearns
Robin Kearns is a Professor of Geography at the University of Auckland. He began his career at the University of Auckland with a Medical Research Council post-doctoral fellowship (1988-1989), having completed a PhD in Geography at McMaster University, Canada. His research interests span social, cultural and health geography and he teaches in both the School of Geography, Geology and Environmental Science and the School of Population Health.

Robin has recently served on the board of the Centre for Housing Research (2003-07) and the Public Health Research Committee of the Health Research Council (2001-07). His current research involves work on ageing and place, activism in the voluntary sector, physical activity and neighbourhood design, and changing dynamics in coastal communities.

Professor Kearns has published over 100 peer reviewed publications and two internationally recognised books on the links between culture, place and health. He edits three journals: the New Zealand Geographer, Health and Place, and Health and Social Care in the Community. He has published numerous journal articles and two internationally recognised books on the links between culture, place and health. He is currently working on a book entitled Geographies of Wellbeing.

Dr Dale Bramley
Dale Bramley (Nga Puhi) is a Public Health Physician and the General Manager of Funding and Planning for the Waitemata DHB. He is also an Honorary Senior Lecturer in Public Health, Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Auckland. In 2003/04 Dale was a Harkness Fellow in Healthcare Policy. He is currently a member of the New Zealand Population Charitable Trust, a previous member of the National Ethics Advisory Committee and is a fellow of the Australasian Faculty of Public Health Medicine and the New Zealand College of Public Health Medicine.

Te Kani Kingi
Te Kani Kingi (Ngāti Pukeko, Ngāti Awa) is the Director of Te Mata o Te Tau, the Academy for Mâori Research and Scholarship at Massey University. Prior to this he was the Hohua Tutengaehe Post-Doctoral Research Fellow and was also Visiting Professor with the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Hawaii. He completed a Doctor of Philosophy at Massey University in 2001. Te Kani is currently a member of the Pharmacy Council and Chair of the Mental Health Commission’s Advisory Board. He is a previous member of the Mental Health Advocacy Coalition, the Māori Advisory Board for Statistics New Zealand, the Public Health Association National Executive, and the steering committee of the Māori Economic Development Group for the Ministry of Māori Development.

Te Kani is currently a health research representative on the National Ethics Advisory Committee and a member of the Mental Health Commission’s Māori Advisory Board. He is a previous member of the Mental Health Advocacy Coalition, the Māori Advisory Board for Statistics New Zealand, the Public Health Association National Executive, and the steering committee of the Māori Economic Development Group for the Ministry of Māori Development. Te Kani’s term as a member of the NHC began in October 2007.

Kitty Chiu
Kitty Chiu is currently an Honorary Advisor at The University of Auckland’s Centre for Asian Health Research and Evaluation, School of Population Health. She is a member of The University's Human Participants Ethics Committee and is a member of the East Health Primary Healthcare Organisation Community Advisory Committee, the East Health Care (PHO) Charitable Trust Board. Kitty is on the Social Worker Registration Board and is a Justice of the Peace. Her training and experience is in nursing and management. She received an MBA from the University of Otago. Kitty is fluent in English, Cantonese and Mandarin.

Dr Shelia Williams.

Dr Shelia Williams

Dr Sheila Williams is currently an Associate Professor for the Department of Preventive and Social Medicine (1986-present). Before this she was a Biostatistician at the Dunedin multidisciplinary Health and evelopment Unit. Dr Williams completed a Doctor of Science at the University of Otago (2004) and a Postgraduate Diploma of Science (1979). She is currently a member of the Multi Region Ethics Committee. As a biostatistician, Dr Williams has worked with groups of researchers with interests in SIDS, child and adolescent health, nutrition and diabetes. She is a member of the New Zealand Statistical Association, the New Zealand Federation of Graduate Women and is a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society.

Page last updated: 11 February 2010