Erena Wikaire (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Hine, Te Hikutu, Te Kapotai) has been awarded the Fulbright - Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga Graduate Award to conduct PhD research into models of Indigenous healing.
 
Erena is a Kaupapa Māori Health Researcher. Her research areas include traditional Māori and Indigenous healing systems, Māori health workforce development, Māori health promotion, health equity, cultural competence, mental health, and cancer in Māori and Indigenous populations.
 
In 2016 she graduated with a Masters in Public Health from the University of Auckland where she is now completing a PhD in Public Health (Māori Health), investigating Māori participation in traditional Māori health practices (Rongoā Māori).

Erena will undertake her Fulbright-NPM award at the John A. Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa in Honolulu, where she will explore Native Hawaiian and other traditional Indigenous healing systems.

“I hope that exploring other Indigenous healing systems will offer new, old, innovative, and mutually beneficial learning's that can support Rongoā Māori and Māori healing in Aotearoa New Zealand. In terms of my research, I hope to continue to contribute to the development, revitalisation and renormalisation of Rongoā Māori.”

NPM Co-Director and Fulbright alumna Professor Jacinta Ruru says, “We are all so thrilled for Erena. Her research is really important to us at Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga, and her work in the field of traditional Māori health practices (Rongoā) seems especially timely right now. I have no doubt she will make the most of her time at the University of Hawai’i and I very much look forward to hearing more about her research findings in the future.”

As well as spending time in Hawai’i, Erena’s research will also take her to parts of Central America where she will continue her research into other traditional Indigenous healing systems.

Link here for more information and to read the full press release

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