Senior research fellow at Mātai Medical Research Institute Dr Oka Sanerivi with wife Deborah and children Aniva (9), Fetu’umoana (1), Lagimalie (7) and Manaia (5).
Senior research fellow at Mātai Medical Research Institute Dr Oka Sanerivi with wife Deborah and children Aniva (9), Fetu’umoana (1), Lagimalie (7) and Manaia (5).
Royal Society Te Apārangi fellowship grants of more than $1.5 million have been awarded to Mātai Medical Research Institute research fellow Dr Oka Sanerivi and principal investigator Dr Vickie Shim.
Sanerivi, a Gisborne-based senior research fellow at Mātai, was awarded a Tāwhia te Mana Future Leader Fellowship valued at $820,000which he will receive over four years.
Auckland-based Shim was awarded a Royal Society Marsden grant of $941,000, which she will get over three years.
A release from Mātai says Sanerivi will explore how Māori and Pacific men view and understand their health and their bodies. The research will focus on prostate cancer – the most common cancer affecting men in New Zealand.
Māori and Pacific men experience relatively high mortality from prostate cancer, despite similar diagnosis rates to other groups.
Sanerivi will ask participants about disease awareness, diagnoses, access to culturally appropriate healthcare, treatment and rehabilitation.
“Early detection of, and intervention in, prostate cancer is associated with improved patient outcomes, and means that less-intensive treatment is required, reducing health expenditure,” the release says.
This research will ensure the experiences of Māori and Pacific men are understood, and enable co-design of a tailored health service to provide culturally informed diagnosis and care for men affected by prostate cancer.
Sanerivi practised as a physiotherapist for more than a decade. Prior to starting his PhD, he was head of the physiotherapy department at Gisborne Hospital. He was the first Pasifika physiotherapist to hold such a role in the country.
Sanerivi’s doctoral research explored the translation of Samoan cultural knowledge into clinical guidance and culturally safe health service delivery.
This doctoral study was funded by HRC’s Pacific Clinical Research Training Fellowship and employed Pacific research methods and worldviews.
After graduating in May, Sanerivi became the first Pacific person to be awarded a PhD in physiotherapy in NZ.
His growing governance experience includes being elected as chair of the Pacific Islanders Community Trust Gisborne, executive committee member for Physiotherapy NZ, the NZ delegate to the World Physiotherapy Congress and General Meeting 2023 in Dubai, and deputy-chair of the Physiotherapy Board of NZ.
Senior research fellow at the Auckland Bioengineering Institute, Shim is working on research entitled “Unlocking brain biomechanics - AI-driven digital twin modelling for neurodegenerative disease monitoring”.
Dr Vickie Shim has received a research grant from the Royal Society for her work in brain health using AI.
Shim’s research involves developing a new artificial intelligence (AI) approach that could offer fresh insights into brain health using MRI scans, the Mātai release says.
The goal is to create a non-invasive and accessible way to assess changes in brain tissue that may occur in conditions such as injury or diseases of the brain.
By combining advanced computer modelling with AI, the research aims to better understand how the brain’s structure responds for different injuries and diseases.
“The technology could one day help clinicians detect subtle changes earlier and track recovery or disease progression more effectively.”
This work builds on previous studies with Mātai via a community partnership with Gisborne Boys’ High School, exploring how the brain responds to impacts and other stresses, and seeks to refine these methods to make them suitable for routine and accessible use.
If successful, this innovation could support improved patient care for several brain diseases, including concussions, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease and others, and create opportunities for growth in the health technology sector for NZ.
The Mātai institute is holding a public science symposium on November 28-29 at the War Memorial Theatre, featuring around 65 short research/science talks.
The event offers a chance to meet and to hear directly from Sanerivi and Shim, along with leading scientists, educators, innovators and change-makers.
The symposium will explore how imaging, technology and collaboration are shaping the future of health, education and wellbeing across NZ and beyond.
A digital brain model showing varying levels of tissue stretching across different regions of the brain. This model is generated using MRI data, AI analysis and wearable sensors. This approach could offer new insights into brain health and guide improved monitoring over time.
