A key to these talanoa sessions are high calibre speakers such as Dr Melbourne Mauiliu-Wallis who was born and raised in Samoa, studied at The University of Otago, and is now working in Auckland. Dr Mauiliu-Wallis is one of the abstract speakers and is planning to share about workforce equity - specifically Pasifika women in medicine. 

A motivation behind her research has been her own journey to date and witnessing the challenges of resilient women in her life who faced numerous challenges but overcame them with faith and determination.  

Her grandmother is one of these women who inspired her to face life’s challenges with ambition and grace. 

‘I have always been surrounded by strong women in my family. My grandmother has always been my biggest inspiration,’ says Dr Mauiliu-Wallis. 

Dr Mauiliu-Wallis admits she did not set out to pursue surgery after becoming a doctor but in her studies, she noticed an increasing absence of women within the surgical environment, especially Pacific women. This limited pool of talent is what drives her research which focuses on Workforce equity for Pasifika Women in New Zealand. 

“There’s a growing global movement in the female workforce and my passions lie with ourPacific women’s aspirations and how these can be realised. It’s a subject that speaks closely to me and I look forward to sharing my work to date”

Dr Mauiliu-Wallis is also looking forward to connecting with other Pacific health care professionals from NZ and around the Pacific region at the conference.

“I’m very excited to network and share ideas with other Pacific health professionals. There really are so few of us and it is so important to get to know everyone when the opportunities to connect arise”

To register for the PMA Conference 2022, please click on the following link - here.

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Date: Saturday 27 August 2022