National Clinical Networks Leadership

Ngāpuhi

Tracy is an occupational therapist with a special interest in stroke care spanning nearly 20 years of practice.

She has clinical and project experience across the care continuum, from hyper-acute and acute care through to inpatient rehabilitation and early supported discharge services both in Aotearoa and the UK. She has led the development of bodies of work contributing to the improvement and expansion of stroke and rehabilitation services.

In 2014 Tracy completed her Masters research, investigating how occupational therapists navigate complex discharge planning for older adults. Since 2018 she has worked in a variety of leadership roles, including Occupational Therapy Professional Lead, Team Lead for multi-disciplinary inpatient services and early supported discharge teams. Most recently, she held the role of Clinical Lead for the Planning, Funding and Performance team in Te Matau a Māui.

Tracy was heavily involved in the rural and isolated community health response following the devastation of Cyclone Gabrielle. She is currently supporting the Hospital Redevelopment Programme for Te Matau a Māui, working with the project team to bring an equity driven and Te Tiriti committed voice to influence traditionally clinical spaces.

Since 2021, Tracy has continued to build on her knowledge through her study towards a Doctorate of Health Sciences. This kaupapa Māori research will determine how Māori clinical leaders want to be supported to thrive in Crown health organisations in Aotearoa. It aims to articulate the full scope of Māori clinical leadership work and understand Māori clinical leaders’ aspirations for support and growth. She aims to submit her thesis for examination in April 2024.

Tracy is a tangata whenua director of Te Poari Whakaora Ngangahau o Aotearoa, the Occupational Therapy Board of New Zealand. Te Poari has implemented a co-chair model and is currently progressing its Te Tiriti committed governance model.

Tracy is passionate about the National Clinical Networks’ commitment to Te Tiriti and aim to improve access and equity of health services across Aotearoa.

Alan is a respected leader in the field of Stroke prevention and care, with over 30 years clinical experience building on qualifications from Auckland, Otago and Victoria Universities, and Fellowships in Internal Medicine and Medical Administration.

Based in Whangārei, Alan’s significant experience spans a wide range of clinical specialties across several countries in both private and public sectors. His specialist areas have included primary care, medical oncology, liver medicine, rehabilitation medicine, general internal medicine, geriatric medicine, bioethics and stroke medicine.

Alan has held clinical leadership and network leadership roles in Person and Whānau centred care, long term conditions, medication safety, health information technology and healthy ageing.

Alan has held clinical governance roles up to Associate Chief Medical Officer, and management roles up to Group Manager level. These roles have included involvement in many clinical and managerial governance processes.

His external agency experience extends to governance roles in Hospice/Palliative Care, Ageing and Dementia, and school governance.

An interest in service improvement was the driver for Alan to obtain training in Lean improvement methodology and IHI Model for Improvement.

In recent years Alan has become passionate about partnership and co-design, and the richness this brings to service improvement.

He is looking forward to using all of his experience to support the advancement of equity and access to health across communities.

Ngāti Raukawa

Lia is a specialist nurse practitioner with significant experience in primary, hospital and palliative care.

She currently practices in the cardiology service at Te Whatu Ora – Te Pae Hauora o Ruahine o Tararua – MidCentral District where she is responsible for the assessment, diagnoses, planning, implementation, coordination and evaluation of care for people with cardiac disorders.

Her role includes facilitating care for patients and their whānau across the care continuum including improving access to primary, secondary and palliative services. She also supports those providing health services, by mentoring registered nurses who are on a pathway to undertake or complete post graduate study.

Lia, who has a Master of Nursing from Massey University, is passionate about improving health outcomes for people and has a particular interest in supporting equity and access to health services for Māori.

Lia’s approach to nursing is influenced through both her worked and lived experience, as a Māori accessing health services.

She has a strong commitment to quality and service improvement. She completed a term as co-chair of both the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand Heart Failure Working Group.

She has recently completed a term as service chair for MidCentral cardiology, is the current palliative care interface cardiology representative and is involved with the integration of cardiology specialist services within primary care.

Cara is a respected cardiologist and the current Service Clinical Director of the Te Toka Tumai Auckland Cardiology Department.

Cara brings a unique lens to clinical leadership, equity and access to health services in New Zealand having grown up living off the grid in the Coromandel.

Cara completed medical school in Auckland before moving on to cardiology training at Greenlane Hospital. She then spent two years as a research and transplant fellow in Auckland before undertaking a transplant and heart failure fellowship in Vancouver, Canada.

Now a fellow of the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand, Cara’s work as a cardiologist has covered the breadth of general cardiology, with particular expertise in advanced heart failure management and transplant.

Throughout her career, Cara has focused on making systems and services better and has a good understanding of how improving process leads to better experiences and outcomes for patients.

Cara aims to always enable those around her to stretch to their maximum professional potential and firmly believes in the strength of people working together to bring about positive change.

She is passionate about the opportunity to improve equitable access to excellent cardiac care across the whole country and contribute to better healthcare for all New Zealanders.

Te Atiawa

Max has been a doctor in hospitals in Aotearoa and Australia since 2009. He currently works as an Emergency Physician at Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland’s Middlemore Hospital.

Max has a particular interest in Indigenous Health and in systems to improve health outcomes for Māori. He is current co-chair of the Indigenous Health Committee at the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine - the not-for-profit organisation responsible for training emergency physicians and advancement of professional standards in emergency medicine in Australia and New Zealand.

His skillset spans advocacy, complex patient assessment, diagnostic/therapeutic procedures, result interpretation, collaborative care coordination and teaching.

Max’s ideal working environment is with a diverse group of health professionals whose ambition is to generate excellent health outcomes for all people in a system where clinical data informs evidence-based solutions.

Max holds a Batchelor of Medicine and Batchelor of Surgery from Auckland University Medical School and was a fellow of the Australasian College of Emergency Medicine in 2017.

Rangitāne, Ngāti Kahungunu, Whānau-ā-Apanui

James is a Consultant Anaesthetist and Intensive Care Physician based in Wellington with subspeciality interests in trauma, cardiothoracic anaesthesia, intensive care, and pre-hospital medicine.

He is currently the head of Trauma Services at Wellington Hospital, the Clinical Lead for the Central Regional Trauma Network.

James is an active clinical researcher, particularly in the fields of trauma, haemorrhage and coagulopathy, traumatic brain injury, health equity and intensive care medicine. He is an honorary senior research fellow at the Medical Research Institute of New Zealand.

A graduate of the University of Otago Medical School, he completed his specialist medical training in New Zealand with further subspecialty training in cardiac anaesthesia and intensive care at Royal Papworth Hospital, Cambridge, United Kingdom. James also holds a Master of Science with Distinction in Trauma Sciences from Queen Mary University of London.

James originally trained as a paramedic and worked in frontline ambulance roles with both St John and Wellington Free Ambulance. He continues to support St John as a medical advisor.

Ngāti Rangi, Te Ati Haunui-a-Pāpārangi Muaūpoko

Leanne has broad experience across Aotearoa New Zealand’s health and disability system, including in clinical settings, governance, research, strategy, and iwi development.

Clinically, Leanne works as Aotearoa’s first pharmacist prescriber, focusing on complex multimorbidity and unmet needs. She is committed to weaving the strands of clinical excellence, cultural safety and indigenous knowledge and values.

In addition to general practice/medical clinics, she works in marae settings alongside rongoā practitioners, including in the Waimarino among her whānau, to optimise medicine therapy. Medicines optimisation acknowledges that medicines have the potential to cure, control or prevent illness but that they can also cause adverse effects. The aim is to ensure optimal use, so the impacts of illnesses are reduced, and drug-related harms are avoided.

Leanne sits on New Zealand’s Medicines Adverse Reactions Committee and was a Ministerial Appointment to the PHARMAC Review Panel tasked with reviewing Pharmac and to make recommendations on ensuring that New Zealanders have the best health outcomes from medicines and in particular Māori and Pasifika.

Leanne co-founded Ngā Kaitiaki o Te Puna Rongoā o Aotearoa, the Māori Pharmacists’ Association, in 2003 as a network to support Māori pharmacists and to hold the pharmacy profession to deliver culturally safe care to Māori.

A highlight of the awards and recognition Leanne has received includes being inaugural recipient of the Primary Healthcare Clinical Pharmacist Award at the New Zealand Primary Healthcare | He Tohu Mauri Ora Awards.

Leanne is focused on indigenous peoples and understanding how health systems can best support those who are disadvantaged, arguing for a medicines environment from a solution-focused societal perspective with mātauranga at its core.

Drew has been a consultant nephrologist in Aotearoa and Scotland for more than 15 years and is currently Medical Director and consultant nephrologist at Waikato Hospital.

He was the first full time nephrologist at Hawke’s Bay hospital between 2007 and 2011 where he led the development of the business case for the Hawke’s Bay Hospital Renal Unit. In parallel, he developed a comprehensive multidisciplinary renal service with provision of in-centre and home dialysis training, vascular access and parathyroid surgery, plasma exchange and local transplant follow up.

Drew developed outreach services to Wairoa and collaborated with the local community to set up the Wairoa community dialysis house.

After six years in Scotland, Drew returned to Aotearoa in 2017 and took up his role as consultant nephrologist before becoming clinical lead in 2019 and then Medical Director Cancer, Chronic Conditions and Radiology in 2022 at Waikato Hospital.

He is the medical lead for the business case and design for the new kidney unit Te Pureoranga at Waikato Hospital. He has been a member of the National Renal Advisory Board (2021-2023), the National Renal Transplant Service Strategic Group (2020-2023) and currently a council member of the Australia New Zealand Society of Nephrology.

Drew is an advocate for improvement in health outcomes for Māori and Pacific peoples including development of clinical equity measures to drive improvement and has helped increased transplantation rates for Māori across Te Manawa Taki.