This will be the third time the conference is being held, with the theme for this year being Mahitahi – partnerships and collaboration. Geriatrician, Associate Dean Pacific at the University of Otago's Department of Medicine and PMA Member, Dr Xaviour Walker, will be the Co-convenor for the conference. He says the conference is an opportunity to understand how artificial intelligence will have an influence in transforming the health landscape.
"AI is going to dramatically change workforce, especially in healthcare. It's really important that New Zealand is at the cutting edge to be able to adopt and use AI in a safe way that's meaningful.
We have to embrace that change but that only comes with knowledge, so a conference like this means we can have deep conversations about how this will impact our health systems and how we can adapt."
Dr Walker is excited at the prospect of Pacific and Māori students being able to be a part of the conference.
"We have a few students attending both from the South Island and also in Auckland as well as some of our trainees. Being involved in these conversations is an important opportunity and we've made sure there's a Pasifika and Māori element to the conference.
The theme pulls from the Māori word for partnerships, mahitahi, which is about working together. We also have a Pacific specific session with Pasifika speakers, which I'm looking forward to be involved in."
Dr Walker acknowledges the number of sponsors for the conference, including PMAM.
"I want to acknowledge the Pasifika Medical Association Membership for their support of the event. They're one of the major sponsors and we appreciate their involvement because it means we're able to put on a world class conference and datathon.
Their support, along with many others, means we can keep costs low for students and trainees to attend, so we're incredibly grateful."
The Hack Aotearoa conference takes place Friday 17 March, with the two day Datathon event taking place from Saturday 18 March – Sunday 19 March.