Rate My Professor Maira Patu

Dr. Maira Patu serves as Clinical Senior Lecturer, TI Convenor, and Head of the Department of Māori/Indigenous Health Innovation (MIHI) at the University of Otago, Christchurch, in the Faculty of Medicine. Holding a MBChB from the University of Auckland and FRNZCGP, she is a practicing General Practitioner at Linwood Medical Centre. Of Ngāi Tahu and Te Arawa descent, Patu has extensive clinical experience, including establishing the first Very Low Cost Access (VLCA) General Practice in Invercargill as part of the Ngā Kete Mātauranga team, and practicing in South Canterbury and South Auckland. Her career integrates clinical practice with academic leadership in Māori health advancement.

Patu plays a pivotal role in medical education, leading the design, development, implementation, and evaluation of the Hauora Māori curriculum at the University of Otago, Christchurch. As Hauora Māori 4th-year Convenor, she is a member of the Hauora Māori Curriculum Sub-committee of the MBChB Curriculum Committee and contributes to postgraduate short courses on the Hui Process and Meihana Model. Her pedagogical approach emphasizes simulation-based learning informed by local Māori patient experiences to promote transformative clinical practice. In research, she has co-authored key publications such as "Introducing the Hauora Māori Equity Toolkit for Specialist Healthcare Services (HMET-SHS)" in the New Zealand Medical Journal (2025), "Te hāpai i te mana wāhine, te takahi i te mana wāhine: Māori women's experiences of empowerment and disempowerment in sexual and reproductive healthcare" and "He mana tō te mātauranga - Knowledge is power: A qualitative study of sexual and reproductive healthcare experiences of wāhine Māori" both in the Journal of Primary Health Care (2025), "Community spirometry reaching equality not equity in Waitaha/Canterbury" (2025), and "Australian and New Zealand Living Guideline cholesterol-lowering therapy for people with chronic kidney disease" in Nephrology (2024). These contributions highlight her influence on equitable healthcare practices and curriculum innovation in indigenous health.