Meet Our Keynote Speakers
Associate Professor Caroline Bell
Caroline Bell is an Associate Professor at the Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Otago. After the earthquakes she acted as the Canterbury DHB clinical advisor on psychosocial responses and input to the community and led a specialist service treating people with severe post traumatic earthquake related distress. Since the March 15 mosque attacks Caroline has again acted as the Canterbury DHB clinical advisor on psychosocial responses and leads a large HRC funded study of the people most directly impacted by these attacks.
Dr Tracy Hatton
Dr Tracy Hatton is the joint managing director of Resilient Organisations Ltd (resorgs.org.nz), a niche research and consulting group based in Christchurch, New Zealand. Resilient Organisations Ltd are experts in risk and resilience, helping organisations prepare for and get through times of crisis, which includes building high performing teams able to adapt and innovate.
Tracy helps public and private sector organisations build their continuity and crisis management capabilities and has co-created the content for a free disaster resilience app for small and medium enterprises internationally. She has published a range of articles on resilience topics both in academic publications and as short user guides.
Tracy has an MBA and PhD in Disaster Recovery and teaches Organisational Resilience on the University of Canterbury Executive Development Programme. She is also a member of the Response and Recovery Leadership Development Programme (RRANZ) helping to build capability in the emergency management workforce.
Dr Richard Wong She
Richard Wong She
is a Plastic & Reconstructive Surgeon working at Middlemore Hospital,
Auckland. He is the Clinical Leader for Burns at the National Burn Centre since
it opened in 2006.
Richard is involved in both plastic surgery training
and burn education to all health professions as the current Chair of the
Emergency Management of Severe Burns Course of the Australian and New Zealand
Burn Association.
Dr Niranjala Hewapathirana
Niranjala (Nilu) Hewapathirana is a Consultant Endocrinologist and General Physician at Christchurch Hospital. She completed her Endocrine and General Medicine training in Nottingham UK. After qualifying as a specialist in Endocrinology she joined University of Cambridge as a Clinical Research Associate and gained additional experience in the field of diabetes technology and pregnancy. Her main contribution to research is her involvement in the multicentre international study “CONEPTT” (Continuous Glucose Monitoring in women with type 1 diabetes in pregnancy and pre-pregnancy to optimise diabetes control). Following her research work she worked as a Consultant Endocrinologist in Northampton UK and then West Suffolk prior to moving to NZ in 2018. Her special interests are type 1 diabetes, technology in diabetes i.e Continuous glucose monitoring, insulin pump therapy, diabetes and other medical problems in pregnancy.
Ricky Wan
Ricky Wan is currently the specialist surgical pharmacist at Counties Manukau Health and is involved with the care of complex Burn patients at the National Burn Centre. Ricky is also involved in the care of Intestinal failure patients requiring nutritional support with parenteral nutrition with the nutrition support team
Zeenah Adam
Zeenah Adam is a clinical psychologist and neuropsychologist based in Wellington. She has been actively involved in the mental health response in Christchurch since March 15, 2019, working closely with the Canterbury health system and justice sector in the provision of advisory services and support initiatives for the affected community, and enhancing access to appropriate mental healthcare. She also provides clinical and neuropsychological services with Wellington-based clients, and has a long history of involvement with the Wellington Muslim community, including engaging in education, community development, and resilience-building initiatives.
Najah Mohamed
Najah is a Registered Nurse living and working in Christchurch. She has previously worked in the hospital setting but is currently working in Primary healthcare. Najah is also currently undertaking a Master of Counselling at University of Canterbury. She is an active volunteer within the Christchurch Muslim community supporting community initiatives for parents, children and youth.