Dr Jamie-Lee Rahiri 

Surgical Trainee, HRC Grant Recipient, Taranaki Base Hospital, NZ

Dr Jamie-Lee Rahiri is of Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Whātua and Te Atihaunui-a-Pāpārangi descent. She has recently completed her PhD investigating equity in access to Bariatric Surgery for Māori and has recently been accepted on to the General Surgical training program. She is cu is a General Surgical Trainee based in Taranaki. Most importantly, she is a māmā to her three daughters Nalani, Maiana and Amaya.  

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Te Piringa Kotuku - Building a Kaupapa Māori Surgical Research Institute

Māori surgeons comprise less than 1% of the medical workforce despite persistent health inequities in access to surgical interventions and higher rates of perioperative morbidity and mortality for Māori. Recent policies within the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and within our own local surgical training bodies have been established to improve cultural safety and Māori health. However, these changes are not being realised on the ground and research ‘on Māori’ without genuine partnership and engagement with Māori stakeholders continues without discipline. Te Piringa Kotuku seeks to build and support a cohort of Māori surgeons and non-Māori allies who will be equipped to fill current and future leadership positions in surgery and who will conduct transformational Māori-led research that seeks to eradicate health inequities in surgery for Māori.