Dr Claire Achmad
Chief Childrens Commissioner
Dr Claire Achmad
Chief Childrens Commissioner
Dr Claire Achmad is a recognised advocate for children in Aotearoa New Zealand and internationally, having worked in a wide range of areas relating to children's rights, including from legal, policy and practice perspectives.
Before becoming Chief Children’s Commissioner in 2023, she served as Chief Executive Officer of Social Service Providers Te Pai Ora o Aotearoa, and in that role championed the aspirations and outcomes of children, rangatahi and whānau and community-based social service providers, strongly grounded in a focus on equity.
Claire holds a doctorate in international children’s rights law from Leiden University, the Netherlands, and has published internationally on a range of children's rights issues. She also holds degrees in Arts and Law from the University of Auckland and is a University of Auckland 40 Under 40 Honoree.
Previously, Claire worked for children’s NGOs and international organisations in Aotearoa, Australia and Europe, held a senior role within Te Kāhui Tika Tangata the New Zealand Human Rights Commission, and practised as in-house legal counsel in the New Zealand government. She was admitted as a barrister and solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand in 2007.
Leo Buchanan Memorial Lecture
Associate Professor Liza Edmonds
Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Whātua
Leo Buchanan Memorial Lecture
Associate Professor Liza Edmonds
Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Whātua
Liza is a Paediatrician working for Te Whatu Ora, Victoria University and Child Health University of Otago. She is the māmā of 3 rangatahi (Jack, George and Maria) and wāhine of Shane. As a Māori doctor Liza is passionate equity as a fundamental principal and about opportunities for health and wellness for whānau in all aspects of her mahi and rangahau. She feels very privileged to be asked to provide the Leo Buchanan memorial lecture as one of his students.
Nadia Lim
Nadia Lim
Nadia Lim is a celebrity chef, entrepreneur, bestselling author, media and television personality, has her own magazine Nadia and is mum to Bodhi, River & Arlo!
Influenced by her background as a clinical dietitian, Nadia is a strong advocate for creating healthy and nutritious recipes using unprocessed and natural ingredients. As a Co-Founder of My Food Bag, Nadia has helped solve the “what's for dinner?” dilemma for thousands of kiwi families every night.
In 2022, Nadia was on our screens in the role of head judge on the hit series Masterchef NZ, going full circle to where it all began for Nadia, after winning the MasterChef NZ title in 2011 and leading to the creation of her first of many cookbooks, Nadia's Kitchen.
These days, Nadia and her husband, Carlos, run the historic Royalburn Station in Arrowtown. Their vision is to lead the way in regenerative and ethical farming by creating more sustainable and circular solutions to help the land, animals and food sources thrive. In 2022, the top rated TV show, Nadia's Farm was released, showing Nadia and Carlos' work at Royalburn and how they are achieving their dream of becoming one of the best farms in the South.
The RACP Montgomery Spencer Memorial Lecture
Turid Peters
Turid Peters is a Speech Language Therapist from Central Otago. She has been a Speech and Language Therapist since 1996, working across acute and community settings from Starship Children’s hospital to Central Otago Child Development Services.
Turid has performed research on Speech Language Therapy management of infant feeding. She is extremely well respected by all those that work with her and an incredible advocate for child health. She has had a long and successful career in child health and multiple leadership roles throughout the health system.
From the early days of her career, she has been involved in the Paediatric Society of New Zealand, recognising the strength of the PSNZ as being integral to building better outcomes for all children in Aotearoa.
The RACP Montgomery Spencer Memorial Lecture
Turid Peters
Turid Peters is a Speech Language Therapist from Central Otago. She has been a Speech and Language Therapist since 1996, working across acute and community settings from Starship Children’s hospital to Central Otago Child Development Services.
Turid has performed research on Speech Language Therapy management of infant feeding. She is extremely well respected by all those that work with her and an incredible advocate for child health. She has had a long and successful career in child health and multiple leadership roles throughout the health system.
From the early days of her career, she has been involved in the Paediatric Society of New Zealand, recognising the strength of the PSNZ as being integral to building better outcomes for all children in Aotearoa.
Dana B. Steien, MD
Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition
Director of Pediatric Nutrition
Dana B. Steien, MD
Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition
Director of Pediatric Nutrition
Dr Dana Steien was born and raised in rural Wisconsin. Dana completed medical school and pediatric residency at Michigan State University. Her pediatric gastroenterology fellowship was at the University of Michigan. She completed an additional fellowship in pediatric clinical nutrition, at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
After training she returned to the University of Michigan and became the medical director of the Children’s Intestinal Rehabilitation Program, where she managed children with intestinal failure, on home parenteral nutrition.
In 2019, Dana joined the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, where she has helped establish and lead the Pediatric Nutrition Support Hospital Service, as well as the out-patient nutrition support team.
Her areas of clinical interest have included iron deficiency, parenteral nutrition, intravenous fluids, and teaching learners how to assess growth and nutritional status in children.
Dist Professor Linda Tuhiwai Smith CNZM
Dr Linda Tuhiwai Smith is a Distinguished Professor at Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi in Whakatane New Zealand. She is Māori and from Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Porou and Tuhourangi tribes.
Distinguished Professor Smith is known internationally for her work on Decolonising research methodologies, Indigenous education and kaupapa Māori. She was the founding Co-Director of Ngā Pae o Te Māramatanga the Māori Centre of Research Excellence and has held several senior academic roles at the University of Auckland and Waikato University. She has served on the Health Research Council, the Marsden Fund Council, the Royal Society of New Zealand Council and is currently Deputy Chair of Council of Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi. She is a Fellow of the American Education Research Association, a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand and an Honorary International Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2023 she was elected to the US National Academy of Science as an International member.
Dist. Professor Smith is a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit. Her publications include Decolonising Methodologies Research and Indigenous Peoples (1999, 2012, 2021) Zed Books, The International Handbook of Indigenous Education co-editted with Elizabeth McKinley (2017) Springer, and A Civilising Mission? The Making of New Zealand’s Native School System 1867-1969 (2001) co-editted with J.Simon, F.Cram, M. Hohepa and S.McNaughton. AUP.
She has recently published five children’s picture books inspired by her research on Māori strategies for healing from trauma.
Dist Professor Linda Tuhiwai Smith CNZM
Dr Linda Tuhiwai Smith is a Distinguished Professor at Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi in Whakatane New Zealand. She is Māori and from Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Porou and Tuhourangi tribes.
Distinguished Professor Smith is known internationally for her work on Decolonising research methodologies, Indigenous education and kaupapa Māori. She was the founding Co-Director of Ngā Pae o Te Māramatanga the Māori Centre of Research Excellence and has held several senior academic roles at the University of Auckland and Waikato University. She has served on the Health Research Council, the Marsden Fund Council, the Royal Society of New Zealand Council and is currently Deputy Chair of Council of Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi. She is a Fellow of the American Education Research Association, a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand and an Honorary International Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2023 she was elected to the US National Academy of Science as an International member.
Dist. Professor Smith is a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit. Her publications include Decolonising Methodologies Research and Indigenous Peoples (1999, 2012, 2021) Zed Books, The International Handbook of Indigenous Education co-editted with Elizabeth McKinley (2017) Springer, and A Civilising Mission? The Making of New Zealand’s Native School System 1867-1969 (2001) co-editted with J.Simon, F.Cram, M. Hohepa and S.McNaughton. AUP.
She has recently published five children’s picture books inspired by her research on Māori strategies for healing from trauma.
Nick Bowden
Nick Bowden
Nick is a Senior Research Fellow with the Department of Women’s and Children’s Health, University of Otago. He is a quantitative social scientist specialising in life-course research using linked population-level data. In particular, he is interested in the intersection between health and non-health outcomes for children and young people with neurodevelopmental, mental health, and other chronic health conditions.
In recent years, Nick has led the establishment a stream of autism research in Aotearoa | New Zealand using population-level data contained in the Integrated Data Infrastructure. His research has explored health and non-health outcomes for Autistic children and young people. This includes pharmaceutical use, rates of co-occurring conditions, mortality risk, school attendance, school suspensions, the impact of high need education based funding support, and interactions with the criminal justice system.
Christina Ergler
Christina Ergler
PhD (Auckland) Honorary Associate Professor, School of Geography, University of Nottingham (UK) Human Environments Analysis Laboratory (HEAL) Fellow Western University (Canada) School of Geography
Christina Ergler is Associate Professor in the School of Geography at Otago. Her work is driven by a passion for creating just, sustainable and inclusive environments that enhance the quality of life of humans and non-humans.
Christina seeks to privilege the voices of marginalised groups to address the systemic structural inequities and broader social and environmental determinants of health/wellbeing/wellbecoming found in the everyday conditions and (on and offline) spaces in which people live, move, work, learn and play.
Garry Goh
Garry Goh
Garry Goh is a registered hospital play specialist (HPS) working in Dunedin Hospital since 2016. He has a master’s degree in early childhood education and a graduate diploma in primary teaching. He is the lead author in two peer-reviewed publications. He has experience in running and teaching in a kindergarten.
Jerry Gray
Jerry Gray
Jerry is an Otago alumnus and has been working in the Audiology Field for the past 17 years.
He has a long history of working in private sector and has recently started working for the Hearing Aid manufacturer Oticon as a Regional Sales and Audiology manager.
Dione Healey
Dione Healey
Dione Healey is a clinical psychologist with a PhD in Psychology. She has extensive clinical and research experience in the area of self-regulation in young children.
Dione is the lead developer of ENGAGE™ and is the Director of the ENGAGE™ Research and Development programme which is based in her research laboratory at the University of Otago. ENGAGE is focused on the development of self-regulation skills in young children and has been funded by the New Zealand government to be rolled out nationally within early childhood education services.
Jesse Kokaua
Jesse Kokaua
Zarghona Lafraie
Zarghona Lafraie
Kym Makanesi
Kym Makanesi
Kym hales from the beautiful Islands of the Cook Islands and born and breed here in the Deep South of Dunedin.
Kym is a dedicated healthcare professional with a deep commitment to advocating for and improving the health outcomes for Pasifika and minority groups in New Zealand.
In the past three years, Kym has been working tirelessly to bridge the gap in health disparities.
Kym has been actively involved in numerous community education programs, health education initiatives, and policy advocacy
This work focuses on ensuring that all individuals, regardless of their background, have access to quality services.
Jessica Manson
Jessica Manson
Jessica Manson is a Paediatric Audiologist at Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora Southern. Her service in audiology is dedicated to enriching the lives of children by ensuring they have complete access to the auditory world around them as well as access to necessary ear health services.
Donna Matahaere-Atariki
Deputy Chief Children's Commissioner
Donna Matahaere-Atariki
Deputy Chief Children's Commissioner
Donna Matahaere-Atariki (Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Ruanui, Te Atiawa, Ngā Rauru, Ngā Ruahine and Tuwharetoa) has a background in education, health and social services, and governance experience with the Gambling Commission and the University of Otago. She was previously Chair of Te Kāhui, the Māori Advisory Group to Aroturuki Tamariki, the Independent Children’s Monitor.
Ms Matahaere-Atariki has strong knowledge of child protection and hapū and hapori, and extensive relationships and networks with iwi, hapū, and community development organisations.
From November 1 2023, Ms Matahaere-Atariki was appointed Deputy Chief Children's Commissioner.
Christine McKerchar
Christine McKerchar
Christina McKerchar (Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Porou, Tūhoe, is a lecturer in Hauora Māori at the University of Otago – Christchurch.
Christine has a background in public health nutrition and for her PhD, studied what a rights based approach to food availability might mean for tamariki Māori especially in terms of possible government policies that might facilitate increased availability of healthy food options.
Pip Milford-Hughes
Pip Milford-Hughes
Kia Ora
My Name is Pip otherwise known as Pippity-Pop! – Balloonologist.
I come from the deep south, so forgive me for rolling my ‘r’s’.
I saw my First Balloon Twister when I was 8 years old, and was
fascinated.
I picked up a Balloon 17 years ago when I twisted for
fun at a party, and I haven’t been able to put a balloon down since.
I have travelled and taught Balloon Art in New Zealand, Australia, The United
States of America, England, Ireland, The Netherlands, Germany and
Japan.
I have hosted Balloon Taskmaster, twisted for Zoo Moo TV under the disguise as
Ninja Gorilla, and I can proudly say that I was crowned “the ‘Blow Up’ Champion
of New Zealand” after winning the reality series ‘Blow Up’.
I also work with the Diabetes Research Team here in Dunedin, entertaining
participants as a distraction when they have to spend hours undergoing
continuing testing and monitoring.
I am very honoured to be asked to add colour and fun to this years conference,
and look forward to meeting you all.
“Twisting is an art form that also entertains –
and your guests get to take a little of the magic home with them” – Pippity
Pop!
Arun Natarajan
Arun Natarajan
Arun is a Specialist Paediatric Dentist currently working in Waitaha Canterbury Te Whatu Ora and in private practice. He is passionate about all aspects of paediatric dentistry including advocacy, research and leadership. Arun is the current chair for Specialist Paediatric Dentists New Zealand (SPDNZ) and past president for the NZ branch of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Paediatric Dentistry (ANZSPD).
Outside Dentistry, Arun lives in Christchurch with his wife, two young children and enjoys biking, socialising and food.
Grant Robertson
Grant Robertson
Hon Grant Robertson became the Vice Chancellor on 1 July 2024. Grant comes to the University after fifteen years as a Member of Parliament. He was New Zealand's Minister of Finance from 2017 until 2023 and Deputy Prime Minister from 2020 to 2023. In addition, he has held Ministerial portfolios as Leader of the House, Infrastructure, Sport and Recreation, Racing, Earthquake Commission, Cyclone Recovery and an Associate Ministerial role in Arts, Culture and Heritage.
Stephen Robertson
Stephen Robertson
Stephen Robertson is the Curekids Professor of Paediatric Genetics at Otago University in Dunedin, New Zealand. He specialized in Paediatrics, Clinical Genetics and Molecular Genetics after training in Auckland, Melbourne and Oxford. At Otago he directs the Laboratory for Genomic Medicine. He remains an active clinical geneticist with a particular interest in the delivery of genomic medicine with a focus on equity. He has been awarded of the Health Research Council of New Zealand’s Liley Medal for significant contributions in biomedical health research and the Hercus Medal by the Royal Society of New Zealand.
Munisha Singh
Munisha Singh
Master of Nursing - Massey University
Clinical Nurse Specialist- Paediatrics’Employed by Te Whatu Ora Southern DHB for the past 18 years.
Munisha is South African and a NZ citizen and a speaker of English, Afrikaans, Hindi and Punjabi.
Munisha is the the founder of Worldwide Mosaic.
Munisha welcomes the opportunity to make a change and value being a part of a team that supports improving outcomes for ethnic communities.
Charlene Tan-Smith
Charlene Tan-Smith
Charlene is the Canterbury and West Coast Allied Health Informatics Consultant Manager, ketogenic practitioner and co-founder of KetoSuite, a ketogenic startup med-tech company.
Charlene has been a registered dietitian since 2005, working in private and public practice, mainly at Christchurch Public Hospital, Canterbury. She has specialised in paediatrics since 2006 and was previously a nutritionist for Child Health Services in the Ministry of Health, Singapore. Charlene is the Ketogenic Dietitian Consultant to the South Island Ketogenic Service in Christchurch Hospital. She treats children with refractory epilepsy in the lower North Island regions for Health New Zealand.
Charlene is a Fellow of HiNZ (FHiNZ), co-chair of the NAHSTIG Council, Calderdale Framework Facilitator and Workforce Career Assessor. Charlene’s doctorate studies, doctorate of professional practice (DProfPrac), investigated all aspects of ketogenic practice and specifically used a theoretical framework of acceptability to measure patient acceptability of technology used to deliver Medicalised Ketogenic Therapy.
Ben Wheeler
Ben Wheeler
Prof. Ben Wheeler is an academic
Paediatric Endocrinologist and General Paediatrician working in the
Southern Region. He has a passion for diabetes technology and improving
the lives of people living with diabetes – both young and old.
Ben is
widely published in the diabetes and child health literature. His work is
highly collaborative and his team has multiple clinical trials in advanced
diabetes technology running at any one time.
More speakers to be announced shortly.
For all conference enquiries please contact: