Disparity and poverty triggers for expert

Suzanne Pitama

Being raised in the Wairoa district is what bred the passion of Associate Professor Suzanne Pitama to help her people and led her to an expansive career in Maori health.

"When you're raised in the Wairoa district and you're connected to Wairoa and the language, the tikanga and the richness of it all but at the same you see so much health disparity and poverty - those were the triggers for me."

As a young child Pitama saw her grandmother die of cardiovascular disease and then her two aunties died of the same disease in their 40s.

"My experience growing up was mainly going to tangi and that implants in you as a kid to try and support the next generation," she said.

She has just been given a ministerial appointment to the Health Research Council's board and will also hold the chairman position on its Maori health committee.

It is a role that will see Pitama follow in the footsteps of Professor Linda Tuhiwai Smith, a woman who has continually promoted the importance of Māori leadership in health research and has inspired her personally and professionally.

They were "big shoes to fill but my job is to try to continue her legacy and listen to the Maori health community and what they want".

It's a role that will see Pitama advocate for the best interests of Māori.

She will also help to identify Maori health research expertise, which means, supporting research that explores the underlying causes of health problems and continual disparities in the community.

It is going to be a busy next three years for Pitama who already holds a full-time role as Associate Dean Maori at the University of Otago, Christchurch, where she has worked for almost 15 years.

How will she fit it all in? She just will, because that is where her passion lies.

"I want to use health as a vehicle to help whanau and hapū, that's what I'm putting all my energy into."