Pasifika Health Leaders Webinar Series 4: Dr Francis Agnew
Updates / Events, 28 Jul 21
Dr Francis Agnew (MNZM, FRANZCP, FACHAM) is one of the Pacific’s most senior psychiatrists who has provided leadership and consultancy in the development of mental health and addic...


But as a medical student in the eighties, he did not intend to pursue psychiatry as a career but had his heart set on becoming a General Practitioner. That changed when he encountered a patient with severe mental health issues during his fourth year of medical studies and he wanted to learn more about the condition and find ways to help.  

“We’ve got 100 billion neurons in our brain and I found that fascinating to try and understand how our brains and minds work. It felt like the final frontier.” 

Dr Agnew, who is also a board director for the Pasifika Medical Association (PMA) Group, will share his journey through psychiatry to future Pacific medical health professionals during the fourth installment of the Pasifika Health Leaders Webinar Series, presented by PMA and supported by the University of Otago and the University of Auckland.  

He will be opening the event and introducing the two guest speakers; fellow Pacific psychiatrists, Dr Etuini Ma’u (FRANZCP) and Dr Brittany Stanley-Wishart (MBChB). This impressive line-up will speak about their experiences in the field of psychiatry and give Pacific medical students an opportunity to get an insight into their specialisation.  

“This is a good opportunity for us to promote mental health as a specialty option for our Pacific students.  Mental health and psychiatry is important to understand because it affects all aspects of our health and across all of our specialties.” 

Dr Agnew says that in the Pacific nations, the allocation of resourses to mental health services has generally been a low priority. He hopes more Pacific students will consider specialising in psychiatry so they can best serve the needs of their community.  

“We have lots of constraints. It’s not a priority within the budgets in our Pacific Islands. We have to be innovative in the way that we provide mental health services in the Pacific.  

What’s great about this Webinar is that as a group of Pacific psychiatrists, we are able to share our stories about why we were interested in specializing in this area. I love what I do. It’s a great way to serve our community.”

The fourth instalment of the Pasifika Health Leaders Webinar is today, Wednesday 28 July from 5pm-6pm.


Join us in person at various hospitals and university locations or online via zoom. To register please visit https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/858LDTZ


#pmafamily

Date: Wednesday 28 July