Directors
Dr Elana Curtis
(Ngāti Rongomai, Ngāti Pikiao, Te Arawa)
Elana Taipapaki Curtis (FNZCPHM, MD, MPH, MBChB) is a Māori public health medicine specialist and Co-Director of Oro Nuku Ltd and Taikura Consultants Ltd providing teaching and expertise in Māori public health across the health sector. She also holds a position as Associate Professor within Te Kupenga Hauora Māori at the University of Auckland. 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). Elana is a founding member of Te ORA (the Māori Medical Practitioners Association).
Dr Ricci Harris
(Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāi Tahu)
Ricci Harris (FNZCPHM, MPH, MB ChB) is a Co-Director of Oro Nuku Ltd and a Māori public health medicine specialist. Ricci graduated in medicine from the University of Otago and also works as a Research Professor at the University of Otago in Te Rōpū Rangahau Hauora a Eru Pōmare (the Eru Pōmare Māori Health Research Centre). Her work is primarily concerned with upholding Māori rights to health and health equity as ensured by Te Tiriti o Waitangi and in-line with International Indigenous Rights. She draws on Kaupapa Māori Research theory to undertake and develop decolonial approaches to epidemiology that centre Māori and are contextualised within systems of ongoing racism and colonialism. This has included research into ethnicity data quality, ethnic disparities in health status and receipt of health services, and the impact of racism on Māori health and inequities. She is particularly interested in how best to utilise quantitative methods to benefit Māori and to meet the health and data needs of Māori. Ricci has worked with a range of organisations on improving Māori health data and monitoring in relation to data quality, data use and, importantly, the interpretation of health data for Māori.
Dr Melissa McLeod
(Ngāi Tahu)
Dr Melissa McLeod (FNZCPHM, PhD, MPH, MB ChB) is Co-Director of Oro Nuku Ltd and is a Māori public health medicine specialist 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, Kaupapa Māori epidemiology, health economics and the investigation and elimination of ethnic health inequalities in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Dr Sarah-Jane Paine
(Tūhoe)
Sarah-Jane (PhD, BSc) is Co-Director Oro Nuku Ltd and is an Associate Professor in Māori Health at Te Kupenga Hauora Maori. Sarah-Jane is also 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 at the University of Auckland.
Dr Belinda Loring
(Pākehā)
Dr Belinda Loring (B.Med (MD), MPH (Hons), FAFPHM (RACP)) is Co-Director of Oro Nuku Ltd and is a non-Māori public health medicine specialist, with over 15-years experience working on health equity and health policy at local, national and international level. She is a Senior Research Fellow at Te Kupenga Hauora Māori, University of Auckland and holds a medical degree from the University of Newcastle in Australia (2003), and a Master of Public Health from the University of Auckland (2007). She has worked on noncommunicable disease prevention & control, social determinants of health, health equity and national health policies at the World Health Organization (at WHO Headquarters, the WHO Regional Office for Europe, and in Cambodia and Sri Lanka). From 2010-2011 she helped establish AP-HealthGAEN, an Asia-Pacific network for action on health equity and the social determinants of health. In Aotearoa, she has supported Māori health equity work at Te Aka Whai Ora/Te Whatu Ora and the Ministry of Health, as well as equity initiatives at District Health Boards and public health units.
Mr Wiremu Mato
(Ngāti Porou, Te Whānau Apanui)
Wiremu (MA Māori Development, BSR, Dip Pīnakitanga ki te Reo Kairangi) is of Ngāti Porou and Te Whānau ā Apanui decent and is Co-Director of Oro Nuku Ltd and Taikura Consultants Ltd. He brings a wealth of experience in working with Māori communities and providing advocacy for Māori health and wellness. He currently provides strategy, policy and investment advice to Sport NZ focused on supporting Māori wellbeing through sport and recreation, underpinned by Māori values and mātauranga Māori. Wiremu is passionate about Te Reo Māori and tikanga Māori and strongly values spending time with family.
