Meet our speakers

Shanthi is a Sri Lankan born, New Zealand and US-trained paediatrician and public health physician, on a lifelong journey learning what it takes to be a good ancestor. She holds senior research roles at Te Whatu Ora - Service Improvement & Innovation and Kidz First Children’s Hospital, and honorary professorial appointments at the University of Auckland, Monash University, and University College London. 

Drawing on her experiences as a migrant, commitment to social justice, and relentless optimism in the potential of shared aspirations, her work focuses on intersectoral approaches to addressing inequities in child and youth health and trauma outcomes. Working with inspiring collaborators, her research has received the John C Hume Award (Johns Hopkins University), Te Manaia Leadership Award (Injury Prevention Network of Aotearoa New Zealand), and the Rue Wright Memorial Award (RACP). International commissions include serving on the WHO Expert Advisory Group in Violence and Injury Prevention and the WHO-UNICEF-Lancet Commission ‘A Future for the World’s Children’.   

Shanthi and Rohan (from large families) are proud parents and grandparents to one daughter and one grandchild.

Dr Shannon Brothers is a Paediatric Allergy and Immunology Specialist consultant. She is Clinical Lead for the Paediatric Immunology/Allergy service of Starship Children’s Hospital, Auckland, where she has worked since 2008. She is co-lead of the Paediatric Allergy Clinical Network Clinical Reference Group, New Zealand Child and Youth Clinical Network (NZCYCN), Paediatric Society of New Zealand (PSNZ).  Shannon is also an Honorary Senior Lecturer for Paediatrics Child and Youth Health, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland, NZ. She is a graduate of the University of Witwatersrand. Shannon trained in Immunology at Starship Children’s Hospital, NZ, and Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. She also works in the Newborn Baby Metabolic Screening department at LabPlus, Auckland City Hospital, as clinical lead for national SCID Newborn Screening in NZ.

TeWhetu hails from Taupō and Ruatoria.  A solo mother, who has battled chronic illness since childhood, depression, and other challenges, TeWhetu keeps it real about overcoming barriers, using humour and her personal experiences, to help others.  Her core values are based on the principles of tika, pono me te aroha.  She is extremely passionate about advancing equitable outcomes, especially for Māori. 

With more than 25 years’ experience in education, healthcare, and consulting, her expertise is in program development, underpinned by kaupapa me õna tikanga Māori, mentoring, leadership, and coaching.  She is halfway through her study towards a Masters in Applied Professional Practice.  As the kaitiaki of Te Ūkaipō, at the Society of Youth Health Professionals, Aotearoa, New Zealand, her role is to help facilitate the successful roll out of the Māori values-based model, at school-based health services.  

TeWhetu’s pride and joy are her sons.  Her eldest, Rhieve, is 26 years old and studying psychology at Oxford University in England, having won a Rhodes Scholarship in 2019.  Her second son Nathan is 23 years old.  A gifted musician and producer, he is a tutor i te reo Māori, in Auckland.  Her youngest, Kalani, is 13 years old, and in his first year at High School.

Nō Ingarangi, nō Airani ōku tupuna. I tupu ake au i Whakatū, i Pōneke hoki. Kei Pōneke au e noho ana. Kei te Tai Tokerau tōku ngākau. Ko Tanya Jondahl ahau. Tanya’s ancestors are from England and Ireland. She grew up in Nelson and Wellington, and her heart is in Te Tai Tokerau. She lives with her whānau in Wellington.

Tanya Jondahl is a qualified and experienced speech-language therapist and communication assistant. She has been appointed as a Communication Assistant by the Court for High, District, Youth and Family Court cases as well as in other justice contexts such as parole board hearings, family group conferences and assessments with psychologists. Tanya has experience working with children, young people and adults across education, justice and mental health settings. She has previously worked for the Ministry of Education, the Office of the Children’s Commissioner and Central Regional Health School.  

Dr Patrick Kelly MBChB, FRACP, MD, ONZM is a paediatrician and Honorary Associate Professor in the Department of Paediatrics: Child and Youth Health, Faculty of Medical & Health Sciences, University of Auckland. Dr Kelly has been involved in multi-disciplinary child protection, service development, teaching and research since 1991. He is co-author of the NZ Ministry of Health Family Violence Intervention Guidelines, was chair of the Child Protection Special Interest Group of the Paediatric Society of New Zealand for 12 years, the first Clinical Lead of the New Zealand Managed Clinical Network in Child Protection and a founding member of the New Zealand National Child Mortality Review Committee and the New Zealand Family Violence Death Review Committee. 

Te Arohanui MaahutaTe Arohanui is of Ngaati Maahuta Haapu, Waikato-Tainui te Iwi and is a direct descendent of ngaa kaiaarahi oo Te Kiingitanga.Raised in Otautahi, Te Waipounamu. Whakapapa was the essential matauranga passed on by her father at an early age. Te Arohanui’s bloodlines commited their lives to the sovereignty and betterment of tangata maaori.

Te Arohanui has had a successful career in secondary education, specialising in physical education and health education, she is the TIC of health education, has established restorative programs based on tikanga maaori to assist at risk rangatahi maaori and has worked in kahui ako collaboratives within her school to address inequities for maaori in academic achievement. 

She has been in waananga for 3 years, learning sacred healing practices such as mirimiri, romiromi, takutaku and rongoaa maaori. Te Arohanui and her wife are currently building their whenua in Te Tai Poutini into a community retreat that can host community groups and encourage the sharing of this knowledge.

She has taken study leave to pursue te reo maaori and reclaim the language lost since the era of her grandparents.

Te Arohanui is the kaupapa maaori advisor for SYHPANZ (Society of Youth Health Professionals) ensuring matauranga maaori is at the core of all decision making by utilising the Te Ukaipo values framework. To find alignment,

Te Arohanui likes to spend time in Bali, at the river or beach, fishing and being with her whanau (wife Angie and 3 boys, 11, 8 and 6 years old).

“Ki te kore he whakakitenga ka ngaro te iwi – Without foresight/vision, the people will perish” - Kiingi Tawhiao

Dr Michael O’Sullivan completed his BSc (Honours) and MPhil (Distinction) at the University of Auckland before gaining an MS and PhD at Stanford University where he specialised in Operations Research (OR). Since returning to the Department of Engineering Science and Biomedical Engineering (ESB) in Auckland his focus has been on applying OR and Analytics to difficult real-world decision making problems.

Michael formed the Operations Research Union Analytics (ORUA) research group with Associate Professor Cameron Walker and they are now co-directors of ORUA which has research programmes that investigate decision making algorithms and tools in many application areas including Finance, Healthcare, and Infrastructure Planning.

Michael’s research work includes collaborations with Stanford, Oxford University, and University of California (UC) Santa Cruz. Michael was invited to be one of four Theme Leaders for the Precision Driven Health research partnership, a large public-private research consortium that utilise approaches such as Machine Learning, Analytics, Optimisation, and Simulation to improve decision making, such as investment in resources, in Healthcare. He is currently the Deputy Director of Te Pūnaha Matatini, Aotearoa New Zealand’s Centre of Research Excellence for Complex Systems.

Dr Margaret Potter has more than 20-years of experience in both the healthcare and education sectors with expertise in staff development, leadership, mentoring and coaching. She is Director of the TELL Centre which offers the award-winning Teaching on the Run Program and is a Professional Certified Coach with the International Coaching Federation. She enjoys working with individuals, groups, and organisations to optimise communication, teamwork, and workplace-based performance. Margaret is a sought-after entertaining presenter who will engage, inform and extend participants with an interactive approach.