Conference Speakers
Eric Topol
Eric Topol is the Founder and Director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, Professor, Molecular Medicine, and Executive Vice-President of Scripps Research. He has published over 1,200 peer-reviewed articles, with more than 300,000 citations, elected to the National Academy of Medicine, and is one of the top 10 most cited researchers in medicine. His principal scientific focus has been on individualized medicine using genomic, digital and A.I. tools.
He authored three bestseller books on the future of medicine: The Creative Destruction of Medicine, The Patient Will See You Now, and Deep Medicine: How Artificial Intelligence Can Make Healthcare Human Again. Topol is the principal investigator to two large NIH grants, the All of Us Research Program that supports precision medicine and a Clinical and Translational Science (CTSA) Award that promotes innovation in medicine. He was the founder of a new medical school at Cleveland Clinic (Lerner College of Medicine), was commissioned by the UK to lead a review of their National Health Service, and is active clinically as a cardiologist.
Dr. Leo Celi
Clinical Research Director
Laboratory of Computational Physiology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Dr. Celi’s research focuses on three areas: scaling clinical research to be more inclusive through open access data, software and publications, particularly for underserved and under-resourced populations; improving clinical research by identifying bias in the data in order to prevent them from being encrypted in models and algorithms; and redesigning artificial intelligence research using the principles of team science and by adopting the hive learning strategy.
Riana Manuel (Ngāti Pukenga, Ngāti Maru, Ngāti Kahungunu)
Chief Executive Tumu Whakarae
A skilled, strategic, and visionary leader within the Māori and health sectors, with extensive experience leading kaupapa Māori organisations, Riana Manuel is the first to lead Te Aka Whai Ora as it works to improve the health outcomes of Māori.
Before joining Te Aka Whai Ora, Riana was Chief Executive of Hauraki Primary Health Organisation and Te Korowai Hauora o Hauraki. From Manaia in Pare Hauraki, Riana is a registered nurse practitioner and enjoys a career that sees her work across many different parts of the health sector.
Shane Reti (Ngāti Wai)
National List MP based in Whangarei
In his first career he was a medical practitioner in Whangarei for 20 years including consecutive DHB appointments and membership of the Institute of Chartered Accountants. He has won national research awards and was one of the youngest recipients of the Queens Service Medal for public service in the 2006 New Year’s Honours List.
In his second career he was Assistant Professor at Harvard University and a fellow in clinical informatics.
Dr. Reti is currently in his 3rd term as the Member of Parliament for Whangarei. He is the Spokesperson for Health, Covid 19 Response, Maori- Crown Relations and Pacific Peoples.
Robyn Kamira
Te Rarawa, Te Aupōuri, Ngāpuhi nui tonu, Ngāti Whātua, Tai Tokerau whānui.
Founder Pāua Interface Ltd. BSocSci (computer science, Māori), PGDip (information systems).
In the early 90s, Robyn was the first Māori woman to receive a computer science degree and received the DSIR (Department of Scientific and Industrial Research) student awards three years running. She founded two technology companies, Pāua Interface, an IT consulting firm and sister company Incredible Skies, a drone research and development company. Her work serves marae, hapū, iwi, community and government sectors – wherever technology and Māori meet – and in several verticals including in the environment, education, health, commercial and traditional cultural knowledge sectors. In her current role, establishing data and digital for Te Aka Whai Ora, she will share how she is approaching transformative actions in the Māori health sector
Dr. Allamanda Faatoese
Christchurch Heart Institute
University of Otago
Dr. Faatoese is a Research Fellow with the Christchurch Heart Institute, University of Otago Christchurch. Her work and passions are driven by helping to improve the health of Pasifika families and communities. Her research focuses on investigating genetic, epigenetic and circulating biomarkers associated with cardiometabolic risk among Pacific communities.
Dr. Corina Grey
Dr. Corina Grey is a Samoan public health physician and epidemiologist. She is currently Chief Clinical Advisor Pacific health at Manatū Hauora and co-principal investigator of Manawataki Fatu Fatu, a 3-year programme of research, funded by the Heart Foundation and Healthier Lives, focused on heart health equity for Māori and Pacific people in Aotearoa.
Joy Wu
Joy, MBChB MPH, is an Otago medical grad who completed two years of clinical training in her hometown of Christchurch. Her search for better ways of using data to improve clinical workflow and patient care saw her pursuing a Master of Public Health from Harvard University and working several years as a Clinical Informatics Research Scientist at the IBM Almaden Research Center in the Silicon Valley, USA. Now she is a mother of two and is back completing her clinical training in Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine at Stanford Health Care, Stanford University. Her research spans clinical natural language processing, computer vision with deep learning, multimodal clinical reasoning/decision making and observational supervision with eye gaze. Her dream is one day to be able to seamlessly equip clinicians with AI systems that are capable of helping them provide better personalized care for patients across the world.
Morris Pita
Morris Pita is the Chief Executive and founder of Tai Pari Mōhio Ltd, the developers of Emergency Q – a platform that reduces overcrowding in hospital emergency departments by supporting the safe transfer of non-emergency patients to primary care. Morris has a wide-ranging commercial background here and offshore at EY, Mercury and BG Group. He is passionate about driving better outcomes for communities and contributing to the development of a more equitable health service, particularly for Māori and Pasifika. He is a former member of the Waitematā and Auckland District Health Boards, and co-founder and former director of Tūruki Pharmacy, providing affordable medicine to low-income whānau in South Auckland. He Co-chairs his hapū Trust in Northland (Whangaroa Ngaiotonga) and was previously a member of the Eden Park Trust Board from 2009-2018 where he chaired the Finance and Audit committee. Morris holds an MBA from the University of Oxford and an LLM (Hons, 1st) and BA from the University of Auckland.
Jack Gallifant
Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
Jack is a full-time physician at Imperial College London NHS Trust and honorary researcher at King’s College London. He has a passion for data science and is fascinated by the potential of artificial intelligence to improve clinical outcomes. Jack also has a strong interest in the use of technology to reduce health disparities and global health inequity. Recent research has focussed on the recalibration of deployed algorithms, development of tools to interrogate data for bias and continuously measuring health disparities over time. Clinically, Jack works at the intersection of data science and respiratory physiology. Aiming to improve outcomes through personalised mechanical ventilation and the utilisation of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in the Intensive Care Unit.
Dan Walker
Dan is Global Co-Chair of Indigenous at Microsoft where he is focused on supporting Indigenous empowerment wherever Microsoft is and raising the Indigenous voice in technology globally. He works as a Channel Executive across Australia and NZ looking after Partners and Cloud Solutions at Microsoft.
James Hillis
Mass General Brigham Data Science Office
James Hillis is the Director of Clinical Operations for the Digital Clinical Research Organization within the Mass General Brigham Data Science Office. He has led AI algorithm validation studies for multiple sponsors with many studies being used for US Food and Drug Administration submissions. He completed his medical school at the University of Melbourne in Australia before undertaking a doctor in philosophy at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. He has since completed neurology training and is currently also an attending neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and faculty member of Harvard Medical School.
Cushla Currie
CEO of the NZ Medical Technology Association (MTANZ)
A commercially focused executive with broad health sector experience. Currently, the CEO of the NZ Medical Technology Association (MTANZ) and has previously held senior positions in health in international business development, clinical research, procurement & supply chain (private and public) and human resources, originally starting her career as a Registered Nurse in the early 90s.
Aabharika Bose
Auckland City Hospital
Aabha is a house officer at Auckland City Hospital and a radiology aspirant. She completed her Medical training at the University of Auckland after a Bachelor’s in Science majoring in physiology. Her prevocational training was completed in Auckland City Hospital. She has a keen interest in applications of artificial intelligence in medicine, especially radiology.
Hon Dr. Ayesha Verrall
Minister of Health & Minister of Research, Science & Innovation
Dr Ayesha Verrall is an infectious diseases doctor and Labour list MP from Wellington. She is passionate about preventing illness so that every New Zealander can enjoy good health and live a free and full life.
Ayesha grew up in Te Anau. She attended medical school at the University of Otago and worked as a junior doctor at Wellington Hospital. Ayesha completed her specialist training in Singapore and researched tuberculosis in Indonesia.
In 2019 Ayesha was elected to the Capital and Coast District Health Board on a Labour ticket. She is an expert on vaccines, tuberculosis and COVID-19. During the COVID-19 pandemic response, Ayesha was instrumental in efforts to improve New Zealand’s contact tracing.
Ayesha lives in Wellington with her partner Alice and their daughter.
Amio Matenga Ikihele
Amio Matenga Ikihele (GM Community & Innovations, Moana Connect); PhD candidate University of Auckland)
Amio Matenga Ikihele (Niue, Te Whānau-ā-Apanui) is a registered nurse, a GM at Moana Connect, and PhD candidate at the University of Auckland. Her current research interests includes digital health literacy, the use of mobile health with Pacific communities, digital health equity and Pacific communities.
Amio Is a member of the New Zealand Health Telehealth Leadership Group and Chairs the Digital Health Equity group, she is a member of the Health Navigators Trust board, the Manaaki Manawa Heart Centre at the University of Auckland, and an advisory board member for SparkHealth. Amio has advocated for Digital Health equity among Pacific communities through webinars, podcasts, and blogs and leads the DIGIFALE programme at Moana Connect.