Meet our panel of medical specialists

Dr Annette Mortensen has worked to improve the health of newcomers to New Zealand from ethnically diverse backgrounds for the last 15 years. From 2000 to 2007 she worked as the Refugee Health Coordinator for the Auckland Regional Public Health Service. In 2007, Annette was awarded with the Supreme Harmony Award for her contribution to Muslim relations in New Zealand by the Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand (FIANZ). In 2008, Annette received a doctorate from Massey University, New Zealand. The subject of her thesis was ‘Refugees as ‘Others’: Social and Cultural Citizenship Rights for Refugees in New Zealand Health Services’. Since 2007 Annette has worked as the Asian, Refugee and Migrant Health Programme Manager for the Northern Regional Alliance on behalf of the Auckland region District Health Boards... read more »

Dr Geeta Gala is a Public Health Physician, working at the Northern Regional Alliance. She leads and advises on many of the cancer projects across the Northern Region, led by the Northern Cancer Network. She completed the Asian Health Needs Assessment for Counties Manukau DHB in 2007 and has actively advocated for improvement of Asian health in New Zealand. She is the South Asian Advisory board member for the Vitamin D Assessment Study and the VIEW programme (Vascular Informatics using Epidemiology and the Web), a cardiovascular risk prediction research at the University of Auckland... read more »

Professor Shanthi Ameratunga has a personal chair in Epidemiology at the University of Auckland. A paediatrician and public health physician by training, Shanthi’s research focuses on trauma outcomes, injury prevention, disability and youth health. She is the Project Director of the Traffic Related Injury in the Pacific (TRIP) Study, a collaboration with the Fiji National University funded by The Wellcome Trust and the Health Research Council of New Zealand... read more »

Associate Professor Elsie Ho is Director of Population Mental Health and Director of the Centre for Asian and Ethnic Minority Health Research at the School of Population Health, the University of Auckland. Her major research interests are in the areas of migration, diversity and Asian health and wellbeing. She has a firm commitment to developing inclusive societies that value diversity and optimise human potential and resources... read more »

Dr Roshini Peiris-John has worked as an academic and researcher in epidemiology and physiology, and a clinician since graduating from Medical School in Sri Lanka. She currently holds a research position at the School of Population Health, University of Auckland alongside a part-time role in teaching a large undergraduate course on Population Health. Roshini’s research focuses on the health of Asian and migrant youth, injury prevention and disability. She is a member of the Adolescent Health Research Group at the University of Auckland responsible for the conduct of Youth2012, a national survey of the health and wellbeing of secondary school students in New Zealand... read more »