Rate My Professor Witana Petley

Witana Petley serves as Lecturer in Hauora Māori at the University of Otago Faculty of Medicine, Dunedin School of Medicine, where he convenes the hauora Māori vertical module within the Advanced Learning in Medicine programme. A qualified physiotherapist, he earned his Bachelor of Physiotherapy from the University of Otago School of Physiotherapy in 2018, following a tertiary pathway supported by scholarships including the Tū Kahika Scholarship, University of Otago Māori and Pacific Peoples’ Entrance Scholarship, Rural Waikato Undergraduate Health Scholarship, and Hauora Māori scholarship for physiotherapy students. Originally from Putaruru in the South Waikato, Petley has focused his career on advancing Māori health equity. Prior to academia, he worked as a rotational physiotherapist at Dunedin Hospital. He currently holds the position of Tūmuaki of Tae Ora Tinana, the Māori Physiotherapy Association, and participates in panels, committees, and executive boards to promote cultural safety and responsiveness in physiotherapy and allied health professions. He collaborates with departments on projects such as reviewing cultural safety training for clinical supervisors.

Petley's academic interests and research specializations include Māori health, cultural safety, neurological rehabilitation, and health equity. He contributed to a Health Research Council-funded project on experiences of stroke rehabilitation for Māori stroke survivors and their whānau. Key publications are his 2023 conference paper 'Utilising cultural humility in the development of a culturally safe workforce' in the New Zealand Journal of Physiotherapy, and co-authorship of 'You receive the diagnosis, but your whānau have the cancer: patients’ perspectives on breast cancer treatment in Wellington, Aotearoa' in the New Zealand Medical Journal in 2025. In teaching, he delivers hauora Māori content across Advanced Learning in Medicine years at the Dunedin School of Medicine and earned the Medical School Teaching Staff Commendation for Excellence in Teaching in 2024. Petley is pursuing a Master's degree through the University of Otago School of Physiotherapy, further enhancing his contributions to Māori health workforce development and equity.