October 18, 2019
Flaxroots mahi helps Harwood change health system.
MATIRE HARWOOD INTERVIEW CLICK HERE
A Ngāpuhi doctor says working in a marae-based general practice in south Auckland strengthens the authority of her work.
At last night’s Royal Society Te Aparangi Honours ceremony in Dunedin, Dr Matire Harwood was given the Health Research Council Te Tohu Rapuora for her outstanding leadership and contribution to Māori health.
Dr Harwood says teaching and researching at the University of Auckland Medical School gives her the chance to critique the health system and think up new ways to address medial and health issues.
“I can also step out of that world and into the real world, grassroots level, and just see what works in practice and take that context back to researchers, to policymakers, to funders to say ‘What I think is going to work for our communities is something quite different to what you think and I know this because I see it in my clinic every day,’” she says.
Highlights of her research include work that improved the way Māori and Pasifika people were supported after strokes, changing the way asthma medication was administered, and also supporting the next generation of indigenous researchers.
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