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The EEDI research team includes Principal Investigator Associate Professor Elana Curtis alongside Named Investigators Dr Sarah-Jane Paine, Dr Yanaan Jiang, Dr Peter Jones, Dr Inia Tomash and Professor Papaarangi Reid. The research team includes senior Māori public health medicine, statistical, clinical emergency medicine and Kaupapa Māori research expertise.
Elana Taipapaki Curtis (FNZCPHM, MD, MPH, MBChB) is a Māori (Te Arawa) public health medicine specialist. She is an Associate Professor in Māori Health at the University of Auckland and is the Director, Vision 20:20 providing academic leadership of Hikitia Te Ora - Certificate in Health Sciences (bridging/foundation education), Māori and Pacific Admission Scheme (admission and retention support) and the Whakapiki Ake Project (Māori recruitment). She has completed her Doctorate of Medicine (MD) focused on Indigenous health workforce development and has been involved in Kaupapa Māori Research investigating Indigenous and ethnic inequities within tertiary and health care contexts including: breast cancer, cardiovascular disease, emergency department care, racism within clinical decision making and cultural safety. She has multiple international and national awards including the Māori TV Matariki Te Tupu-ā-Rangi Award for Health and Science, the LIMELite Award for Excellence in Indigenous Health Education Research (Leaders in Indigenous Medical Education) and the Ako Aotearoa National Tertiary Teaching Excellence Award (Kaupapa Māori Category). She is a member of the AMEE Research Committee, Royal Society’s Fair Futures Panel and is a Board member for the Auckland City Mission.
Sarah-Jane (Tuhoe) is a Senior Lecturer and Director of the Tomaiora Research Group at Te Kupenga Hauora Māori, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland. She holds science degrees from the University of Otago and a PhD in Public Health from Massey University. Sarah-Jane is an experienced Kaupapa Māori epidemiologist with a range of projects investigating ethnic inequities in health and the determinants of health across the life-course. Sarah-Jane teaches Māori Health and Kaupapa Māori research methods across a number of undergraduate and postgraduate courses.
Peter (Pākehā) is the Director of Emergency Medicine Research at Auckland City Hospital. He has MSc in Evidence Based Healthcare from Oxford University and a PhD in Health Sciences from the University of Auckland. He has served on several Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM) committees including the Clinical Trials Group, the Trainee Research Committee (chair), the Quality Committee, the Overcrowding Committee and the Scientific Committee. He currently sits on the International Federation for Emergency Medicine (IFEM) Research Committee. He led the ACEM review of Time-Based Targets in 2019 and was on the recent IFEM Taskforce group looking at ED Crowding in 2020. Peter has published over 100 articles in the peer-reviewed literature and presented more than 60 times at national and international conferences. He chairs the NZ Emergency Medicine Network for research and is currently seconded to New Zealand’s Ministry of Health as the Shorter Stays in ED health target champion. He has wide research collaborations internationally, with a broad range of research interests including analgesia, sepsis, thrombosis, acute coronary syndromes, dyspnoea, oxygen therapy, trauma, ED crowding, equity and health systems. He has experience in survey research, observational research, randomised controlled trials and systematic reviews.
Yannan (Chinese) is a senior research fellow of the Department of Statistics, and a senior consultant of the Statistical Consulting Centre (SCC) in the University of Auckland. As a study co-investigator and principal statistician, she has been involved in a wide range of research and commercial projects working with different organisations and providing statistical advice on study design, data monitoring, statistical analysis and reporting, and expert review. Yannan is an invited statistical reviewer for the Lancet and other medical journals. She was elected to the membership of International Statistical Institute (ISI) in 2012 and is a member of the New Zealand Statistical Association (NZSA). Her current research areas include clinical trials in nutrition and physical activity, alcohol and smoking cessation, diabetes and heart diseases, new born and pregnant women; cluster randomized trial design; national survey design and analysis; longitudinal studies; case-control sampling and missing data problems.
Inia (Te Rarawa) is a consultant at Middlemore Hospital, Auckland, New Zealand. He has worked in the Auckland region since 2010 and prior to this he worked in Emergency Medicine in Australia and Ireland. Inia has an interest in Māori and indigenous health, health equity and is currently co-chair of ACEM’s Manaaki Mana (Māori health equity) strategy group. He has three young children, plays over 40s football and is a keen armchair sportsman.
Papaarangi (Te Rarawa) is Tumuaki and Head of Department of Māori Health at the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland New Zealand. She holds science and medical degrees from the University of Auckland and is a specialist in public health medicine. She has tribal affiliations to Te Rarawa in the Far North of Aotearoa. Her research interests include analysing disparities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous citizens as a means of monitoring government commitment to Indigenous rights.
Olivia (Pākehā) is a Research Assistant at Te Kupenga Hauora Māori. She was the recipient of a Marsden Grant Masters Scholarship in Ageing and Society and has a First-Class Master’s Degree in Public Health from the University of Auckland. Prior to this, she obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and History from the University of Otago. Her interests span across a variety of disciplines, including health, poverty, and disability research.