General and oncoplastic breast surgeon Dr Maxine Ronald (Ngapuhi/Ngatiwai) hopes to address disparities faced by wāhine Māori and Pasifika women affected by breast cancer.
General and oncoplastic breast surgeon Dr Maxine Ronald (Ngapuhi/Ngatiwai) hopes to address disparities faced by wāhine Māori and Pasifika women affected by breast cancer.
Whangārei surgeon Dr Maxine Ronald (Te Kapotai ki Ngā Puhi, Ngāti Wai, Ngāti Hine, Ngāti Rangi) hopes to address disparities faced by wāhine Māori and Pasifika women affected by breast cancer and believes a $300,000 three-year fellowship will help her do just that.
Breast Cancer Cure and Breast Cancer Foundation NZ have awarded Ronald $300,000 for a three-year fellowship with Hei Āhuru Mōwai Māori Cancer Leadership Aotearoa.
Research shows wāhine Māori and Pasifika women are more likely to develop breast cancer (35 per cent and 20 per cent respectively) and are more likely to die from it (33 per cent and 52 per cent respectively) than non-Māori.
Ronald has advocated for indigenous health equity for many years and her fellowship will focus on working with researchers across the motu to build Māori capability and leadership in breast cancer research. The aim of this work is to drive policy change and action to ultimately close the breast cancer survival gap in New Zealand.
For Ronald, the fellowship presents a timely opportunity to bring her life’s work together and make a tangible difference for whānau and wāhine experiencing breast cancer. When Māori and Pasifika were involved in initiatives they tended to have better outcomes, she said.
“My ambition in this role is to bring our communities and clinical and research worlds together, so we are all aligned and working together toward the best outcomes possible for wāhine Māori and their whānau.”
Whangarei surgeon Dr Maxine Ronald (Te Kapotai ki Ngā Puhi, Ngāti Wai, Ngāti Hine, Ngāti Rangi) hopes to address disparities faced by wāhine Māori and Pasifika women affected by breast cancer.
She said she is looking forward to the provision of not only equitable breast cancer care for Māori women, but also care that is aligned with Te Ao Māori.
“The key objective is to really develop best practices for Māori and Pasifika women … I think it’s so unfair in a first world country that anyone has a different outcome based on ethnicity. Especially for Māori, who are indigenous to this country. I believe we can all have the same health outcomes.”
Ronald grew up in Auckland and is currently based at Whangārei Hospital.
“It is a huge privilege and honour, which arose from a conversation with wāhine Māori, like Cindy Dargaville and Dr Nina Scott. They basically drove this and enabled the development of the fellowship. The privilege of this is not lost on me and it gives me the opportunity to improve breast cancer equity.”
She said the fellowship will allow her more time to dedicate to her research.
“Most of the time for clinicians doing research and advocacy work means that it cuts into clinical time. This will formalise the things that I have been doing for a while, around cancer and equity in general. I will still be based at the hospital for about three days a week doing clinical work and the rest of my time will be dedicated to the fellowship.”
Breast Cancer Cure chair Fay Sowerby says she is immensely proud of the partnership: “Through my own breast cancer diagnosis in 2013 I learned Māori and Pacific women in Aotearoa New Zealand have much worse outcomes than non-Māori.
“We believe Maxine will bring focus to our breast cancer research programme and help address the stark inequities in outcomes faced by Māori and Pacific women.”
Hei Āhuru Mōwai Tumuaki chief executive Cindy Dargaville, says the fellowship will help drive necessary policy change to help eliminate breast cancer inequities.
“Maxine is a very highly respected breast cancer specialist and onco-surgeon, a long-standing member of Hei Āhuru Mōwai and trusted māngai [expert] in her field,” says Dargaville.
“Her knowledge and leadership in the cancer control space will be invaluable to improve early detection rates and treatment of breast cancer, and lift cancer outcomes for wāhine.”
Breast Cancer Foundation NZ chief executive Ah-Leen Rayner says, “The desperate shortage of Māori breast cancer clinicians and researchers in Aotearoa New Zealand makes it very difficult for research and resulting evidence-based improvements in breast cancer diagnosis and treatment to truly be ‘by Māori, for Māori and about Māori’.
