The M2M research team is a Māori-led research team that includes:
Alongside Named Investigators:
Other Named investigators include:
The research team includes senior Māori public healthmedicine, statistical, clinical endocrinology and Kaupapa Māori research expertise.
Elana Taipapaki Curtis (FNZCPHM, MD, MPH, MBChB) is a Māori (Te Arawa) public health medicine specialist. She is an Associate Professor in Māori Health at the University of Auckland is the Director of Taikura Consultants Ltd providing teaching and expertise in Māori public health across the health sector. She completed her Doctorate of Medicine (MD) focused on Indigenous health workforce development in 2017 and has been involved in Kaupapa Māori Research investigating Indigenous and ethnic inequities within tertiary and health care contexts including: breast cancer, cardiovascular disease, emergency department care, racism within clinical decision making and cultural safety. Between 2011 and 2022, Elana was the Director, Vision 20:20 providing academic leadership of Hikitia Te Ora - Certificate in Health Sciences (bridging/foundation education), Māori and Pacific Admission Scheme (admission and retention support) and the Whakapiki Ake Project (Māori recruitment) at the University of Auckland. She has multiple international and national awards including a LIMELife Award (Leaders in Indigenous Medical Education), the Māori TV Matariki Te Tupu-ā-Rangi Award for Health and Science, the LIMELite Award for Excellence in Indigenous Health Education Research and the Ako Aotearoa National Tertiary Teaching Excellence Award (Kaupapa Māori Category).
Dr Ricci Harris (Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāi Tahu) is a public health physician and Research Professor at Te Rōpū Rangahau Hauora a Eru Pōmare. She has research expertise in Māori health, epidemiology (including quantitative aspects of Kaupapa Māori research) and the investigation and elimination of ethnic health inequities in New Zealand. This has included research into the classification of ethnicity, ethnic disparities in health status and receipt of health services, and the impact of social determinants (e.g. SES and racism) on Māori health and inequities. Her current research focus is on racism as a determinant of health. This includes the relationship between experiences of discrimination and health, the impact of socially-assigned ethnicity, ethnic consciousness and ethnic density on health, and ethnic bias among health professionals.
Dr Melissa McLeod (Ngāi Tahu) is a public health physician and Associate Professor working at Te Rōpū Rangahau Hauora a Eru Pōmare, University of Otago, Wellington. Melissa is a fellow of the New Zealand College of Public Health Medicine and a member of Te ORA (Māori Medical Practitioners Association). Melissa's research interests include Māori health, epidemiology and the investigation and elimination of ethnic health inequalities in Aotearoa/New Zealand.
Dr Sarah-Jane (Tūhoe) is an Associate Professor in Māori Health at Te Kupenga Hauora Maori and the Research Director for Growing Up in New Zealand - the largest contemporary longitudinal study of child and youth wellbeing in Aotearoa New Zealand. She holds Science degrees from the University of Otago and a PhD in Public Health from Massey University. Sarah-Jane is an experienced Kaupapa Māori epidemiologist with a range of projects investigating ethnic inequities in health and the determinants of health across the life-course. Sarah-Jane teaches Māori Health and Kaupapa Māori research methods across a number of undergraduate and postgraduate courses at the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences.
Dr Jade Tamatea (Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Kahungunu) is a Specialist Diabetologist/Endocrinologist at Te Whatu Ora Waikato and Senior Lecturer at Te Kupenga Hauora Māori and Department of Medicine at the University of Auckland. Jade’s passion is Māori health and sees critique of the health system’s processes as important. Her research interests include investigating ethnic inequalities in health using a Kaupapa Māori Research framework in order to eliminate existing disparities. She has a particular focus on reviewing inequities through a lens of assessing the role a health care system plays in perpetuating inequities.
Dr Yannan Jiang (Asian) is a senior research fellow of the Department of Statistics, and a senior consultant of the Statistical Consulting Centre (SCC) in the University of Auckland. As a study co-investigator and principal statistician, she has been involved in a wide range of research and commercial projects working with different organisations and providing statistical advice on study design, data monitoring, statistical analysis and reporting, and expert review. Yannan is an invited statistical reviewer for the Lancet and other medical journals. She was elected to the membership of International Statistical Institute (ISI) in 2012 and is a member of the New Zealand Statistical Association (NZSA). Her current research areas include clinical trials in nutrition and physical activity, alcohol and smoking cessation, diabetes and heart diseases, new born and pregnant women; cluster randomized trial design; national survey design and analysis; longitudinal studies; case-control sampling and missing data problems.
June Atkinson (NZ European) is a Senior Data Analyst with extensive experience working with large national datasets, including examination of ethnicity data quality. June has played an important role in many Health Inequalities Research Programme (HIRP) projects. She is heavily involved in the data linkage and analyses of the New Zealand Census Mortality Study (NZCMS) and CancerTrends. She is involved in the Healthier Lives National Science Challenge through the Virtual Health Information Network (VHIN) project which will build on the 'big data' approach to health care. June has also contributed to aspects of Neighbourhoods and Health and a small amount for SoFIE-Health.
Dr Rebekah Jaung (Korean) is a Public Health Physician at the Northern Region National Public Health Service and a Senior Research Fellow at Te Kupenga Hauora Māori at the University of Auckland |Waipapa Taumata Rau. Her areas of interest include: racism and anti-racism in health, health equity, and developing spaces for Māori-migrant solidarity within health in Aotearoa.