Chairperson Claire Turner

Claire is our Chairperson and community representative, with lived experience as a health service user. 

“I identify as tangata whai ora; lived and living experience of mental distress, I have worked in telehealth, crisis line, group and individual settings as a peer support worker; which is a way of relating in which we acknowledge both our lived experiences; and co-create together ways of moving forward; in the presence or absence of barriers and/or challenges.  
I served a term as the student member for the Australia New Zealand Association for Contextual Behavioural Science Board (ANZ ACBS), have attended numerous trainings in ACT and contextual behavioural science, and presented in Seville, Spain at the ACBS World Con 2017 on combining peer support work and ACT in acute and group settings. I have a passion for innovative and collaborative approaches to improving the wellbeing of our peoples from an equitable and intersectional approach. I acknowledge my role as tauiwi and as a partner to Te Tiriti and am committed to growth and learning in this space.”

Mani (Adam) Molloy-Sharplin

“Ahakoa taku whakapapa i waenganui i te Waipounamu, ko taku whakapapa matua ki Ngāi Tuahuriri. Heoi anō, Ko Waitaha, Kāti Māmoe, Kāi Tahu ōku iwi. Naia aku mihi ki a koutou. It’s my privilege to be the Toihau – Executive Officer of Te Hā o Maru Health and Social Services. Subsidiary Service to Te Rūnanga o Moeraki. I’m a registered Social Worker approaching 2 decades of experience working in the social services sector. My experience spans form (formerly) Child Youth and Family, Alternative Education, Ministry of Education, Kaupapa Māori Mental Health, and the design, development, and implementation of Youth Justice and High Needs residential homes in partnership with Oranga Tamariki in the NGO space.

My passion is in ensuring our Māori methods of practice are standing equally with our western methods of practice and supporting the return of health, wealth, and sovereignty to iwi Māori

Brendon McIntosh 

Brendon is a Māori pharmacist living and working in Tāhuna Queenstown. He currently works for WellSouth Primary Health Organisation as a population health pharmacist focusing on improving Māori Health outcomes in the Southern region of New Zealand. This involves using prescribing data to highlight the issue of inequity within the health system and works with all healthcare providers across the region, educating them how to best engage with Māori whānau (indigenous families). He is also undertaking his Masters studies through the University of Auckland

Amanda Clifford

Kāi Tahu, Kāti Māmoe, Waitaha

Amanda is a Clinical Psychologist,  and a Lecturer in the Psychology Department at the University of Otago. Amanda grew up in rural Southland, and has a strong interest in Māori health and wellbeing. She is interested in investigating what service provision looks like, how to best support young people and their whanau, as well as women’s health issues and health equity.

Leigh Hale

Professor Leigh Hale is the Dean of the School of Physiotherapy / Centre for Health, Activity, and Rehabilitation Research at the University of Otago, New Zealand. She graduated as a physiotherapist from the University of Cape Town (South Africa) and went on to attain her MSc (Neurorehabilitation) and PhD from the University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa). Leigh primarily researches in the area of community-based physiotherapeutic rehabilitation, falls prevention and supported self-management for people living with disability and with neurological conditions, such as multiple sclerosis, stroke, dementia, and learning disabilities; and in aged care. Her research uses both quantitative and qualitative methodologies and focusses on how physiotherapists can enable and support people to optimally live healthy and engaging lives. She has over 168 peer reviewed publications and six book chapters.

Letava Tafuna'i

Letava is Associate Dean Pacific of the Dunedin School of Medicine, University of Otago as well as a well-respected General Practitioner. She also holds a position with WellSouth as a Senior Clinical Advisor Pasifika working with Pacific health providers in Dunedin, Invercargill, and Oamaru, as well as general practices across the region to improve care and the long-term health for Pacific aiga. She is interested in equity focused research relating to Pacific peoples and has experience working in a clinical setting both here in Aotearoa and in Australia.

Among Letava’s aims is to advocate for Pacific communities, reduce barriers to care, encourage engagement with health providers and to help health providers better understand the needs of their Pacific patients.