Suzanne Pitama
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Dame Joan Metge Medal for research in social sciences
Dame Marie Clay Award (2023)
Suzanne G. Pitama | |
|---|---|
| Alma mater | University of Otago, Christchurch |
| Awards | AKO Aotearoa Prime Minister's Supreme Award for tertiary teaching excellence Dame Joan Metge Medal for research in social sciences Dame Marie Clay Award (2023) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Māori indigenous health |
| Institutions | University of Otago, Christchurch |
| Thesis | |
| Doctoral advisor | Tim Wilkinson Catherine Savage Pauline Barnett |
Suzanne Georgina Pitama is a New Zealand academic, is Māori, of Ngāti Kahungunu and Ngāti Whare descent and as of 2020 is a full professor at the University of Otago in Christchurch, New Zealand.[1]
Pitama was educated at Wairoa College, and qualified in psychology at University of Auckland. She then undertook postgraduate and doctoral studies at Massey University and the University of Otago.[2]
Academic career
Pitama was already a registered clinical psychologist before she completed the first-ever PhD undertaken in indigenous medical education, submitting her thesis, "As natural as learning pathology": the design, implementation and impact of indigenous health curricula within medical schools,[3] at the University of Otago in 2013. Pitama was promoted to full professor from February 2020.[1][4] In December 2021, she was appointed Dean and Head of Campus at the University of Otago, Christchurch, effective February 2022.[5]
Pitama's research focuses on indigenous experiences in the health system, and how medical education can improve health disparities.[1][6]
Awards
In 2015, Pitama received the AKO Aotearoa Prime Minister's Supreme Award for tertiary teaching excellence.[7] In 2017 Pitama featured as one of the Royal Society Te Apārangi's 150 women in 150 words.[6] Pitama was also awarded the 2018 Metge Medal for 'excellence and building relationships in the social science research community'.[8] Pitama was also awarded the 2023 Dame Marie Clay Award by the New Zealand Psychological Society.[9]
Pitama is the Director of the Māori/Indigenous Health Institute (MIHI) at the University of Otago.[10]
In February 2022, she became university's first Māori female Dean of a medical school campus, when she became the Dean and Head of Campus at the University of Otago, Christchurch.[11]
