Speakers

Dr Brian Robinson has a background in physiology and established the first patient simulation centre in New Zealand. At VUW, he lectures in pathophysiology and patient safety, and his research collaborations include clinical human factors, medical device design and usability, machine learning, and virtual reality applications, in health.

Caroline Montojo is the President and CEO of the Dana Foundation, a private philanthropic organization in New York City dedicated to advancing understanding about the brain. Caroline is leading the Foundation into its next chapter which focuses on how neuroscience both reflects and informs society.

Caz is a senior lecturer and registered nurse with a background in critical care nursing, health service research and innovation. Her primary research expertise is in translational health care research with a specific focus on advances in safe healthcare practices where technology design and use requires environmental and educational considerations.

As Principal Consultant Daymon is a member of the executive team at Whānau Tahi, and leads the design and implementation of systems for Iwi, Urban Māori, and other indigenous groups internationally. He brings culturally involved design thinking for technology, people, and practices, as well as expertise in Maori Data Sovereignty and Governance practice. He has advised organisations and indigenous groups in Australia, USA, South-East Asia, Africa, and the UK. Daymon’s background has also included scaled ERP system implementations, solution architecture, outcome measurement, and organization change. Daymon has also been recognised for his work in the advancement of Māori Enterprise.

Cofounder of the Consortium of Medical Device Technologies (CMDT) and Co-lead of Te Titoki Mataora MedTech Research Translator (TTM), Diana is a medtech innovation sector specialist in research translation and early stage startups. An architect of national initiatives, Diana helps connect New Zealand's medtech sector through collaborative partnerships in country and internationally, and grow a pipeline of opportunities addressing health, social well-being and economic growth.

Garth has 30 years’ experience in the high-technology sector – including 20 years in medical technology CEO roles – and founded digital therapeutics company Adherium. In that time, he has established operations and built teams in North America, Europe, Australasia and Asia, leading global sales and technology licensing.  

Grant is an Associate Professor in Audiology, at the School of Population Health, A Co-Deputy Director at the Eisdell Moore Centre, and a Principal Investigator in the Centre for Brain Research and Brain Research New Zealand. He has been Director of the University of Auckland Hearing and Tinnitus Clinic since its establishment in 2001 and was Head of the Section of Audiology 2007-2014. He is the Scientific Director of TinnitusTunes, a UniServices spin-out company. His research has focused on assistive technology for hearing and cognitive aspects of tinnitus.

Dr Hayley Reynolds is a Senior Research Fellow at the Auckland Bioengineering Institute, at the University of Auckland. She leads a Cancer Imaging research group focussed on developing clinically relevant tools including predictive software for melanoma and breast cancer, imaging devices for lymphoedema and imaging biomarkers for prostate cancer radiotherapy.

John Reynolds is a Professor of Neuroscience in the Department of Anatomy at the University of Otago. His research team studies the application of neuroplasticity approaches to Parkinson’s disease and stroke, from a translational perspective. His focus is on understanding the natural conjunction and timing of neuromodulator signals influencing synaptic plasticity in affected brain areas. He has developed and patented acoustic neuromodulation approaches for treating Parkinson’s disease, focal epilepsy, and brain cancer. Most of his work is preclinical, in small and large animal models, however he has recently led a small study collaborating with neurosurgeons and neurologists, implanting intracerebral electrical stimulators in humans.

Jon's focus at the MoH is on bringing technology to the health sector faster, ensuring that technology provides impact, and establishing a network of interested and expert people and organisations who are working on new technology solutions in health. He originally trained and practiced as a physiotherapist.

Kiriti is a creative technologist and innovation professional with 15 years experience in domains like technology, digital media and engineering across international markets. His focus areas include emerging technologies, systems engineering, industry 4.0 & bioastronautics. Kiriti is a former speaker at TeDx and European Commission, and his work has been covered in publications like Forbes.

Lance is Manager of the Liverpool Innovation Precinct, in South West Sydney. He is a former National President of the Australian Institute of Medical Scientists and spent 13+ years in leadership roles at ResMed. Lance mentors for a number of startup accelerator programs, is a NED for a NFP and Chairs the board of startup, Navi Medical Technologies.

Lui Holder-Pearson is a junior lecturer in the department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Canterbury. Having completed his PhD in the development and wider context of medical devices in New Zealand, he is strongly motivated to develop solutions which tackle the incumbent inequity within healthcare.

Marco graduated from the University of Auckland with a Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) in Biomedical Engineering in 2012. He went on to join the Musculoskeletal System Group and completed his PhD in Bioengineering in 2017. The focus of his research is on the development of clinical tools for improving orthopaedic care, computational tools for medical image segmentation, and population-based musculoskeletal models for characterising and understanding joint biomechanics.

Mark has a wealth of knowledge and expertise in human-computer interface technology, particularly in the area of Augmented Reality (the overlay of three-dimensional images on the real world).

Dr Mataroria Lyndon is Deputy Chair of Te Hiringa Hauora Health Promotion Agency and a Board member of the Māori Health Authority, Northland District Health Board, Aktive, and Pūtahi Manawa Aotearoa Centre of Research Excellence.
He is a Senior Lecturer in Medical Education at the University of Auckland and co-founder and Clinical Director of Tend Health. He was previously Equity Lead at Mahitahi Hauora and a medical lead for Māori health at Counties Manukau DHB.
Mataroria completed his Master of Public Health at Harvard University as a Fulbright Scholar, and his PhD is focused on medical education. He was also awarded the Deloitte IPANZ Public Sector Young Professional of the Year 2016.

Maggie-Lee practiced as a clinician for 13 years before the frustration of never knowing ‘the answers’ led her to an academic career. She is now Professor in the Department of Communication Disorders, UoC and Director of the UC Rose Centre for Stroke Recovery and Research in Christchurch. She still hasn’t found ‘The Answers’ but is trying, with research interests focusing on the complexities of behaviorally driven neural adaptation and biomechanical change leading to swallowing recovery.

Peng is an A/Professor at the University of Auckland and an international expert in gut electrophysiology, modelling and device design. Since 2011, Peng's research has focused on improving diagnosis and treatment for gastrointestinal health - in 2016 he launched start-up company FlexiMap based on that research. In 2019, Peng won the Prime Minister’s MacDiarmid Emerging Scientist Prize.

Professor Peter Thorne is an expert in diseases of the inner ear, the effects of noise, and consequences of ageing on the auditory system. Peter has a joint appointment in the Section of Audiology and Department of Physiology at the University of Auckland. He is a Director of the Eisdell Moore Centre and Co-Director of Brain Research New Zealand.

Richard Little is driven by improving the lives of people through harnessing the latest in science and technology. Richard began exploring the potential of Brain Computer Interfaces (BCIs) to measure and influence how the brain communicated with the body via the nervous system. In 2015, he and former Rex Bionics colleague Faisal Almesfer co-founded Exsurgo, seeking to leverage neuroscience to enable breakthrough treatments for a range of medical conditions.

Robyn is a public health physician and Clinical Director Innovation at Waitemata DHB’s Institute for Innovation and Improvement. She is also Assoc Prof at the National Institute for Health Innovation (NIHI) at the University of Auckland. Her research interests are in developing mHealth interventions to be delivered to people directly using their mobile phones. 

Samantha is a medical physicist with expertise in MRI, with a special focus on imaging of the human brain. Samantha has developed fast, high resolution MRI methods for the improved detection and diagnosis of brain disorders and disease. She is a pioneer of amplified MRI – a method of visualising brain motion for understanding obstructive brain disorders. She has brought together an exceptional team of national and international collaborators, in several medical research initiatives including mild traumatic brain injury, methamphetamine, and idiopathic intracranial hypertension.

Sebastian’s professional experience spans over ten years of clinical work and research in cognitive rehabilitation and ten years of virtual reality research, simulation development and user testing. In 2014, he founded Katana Simulations to further develop and market his virtual rehabilitation research. He leads Katana Simulations’ efforts to design and develop clinical simulations for the assessment and rehabilitation of human cognition and motor function.

Dr Sharon Olsen is a Lecturer in the Physiotherapy Department within the School of Clinical Sciences at AUT. Her research explores the use of novel technologies to enhance physiotherapy assessment and rehabilitation. A key focus of her work is the use of neuromodulatory techniques to enhance neural plasticity following stroke. Sharon teaches on the undergraduate physiotherapy programme and supervises Masters and PhD students. Her clinical background has spanned acute, rehabilitation, and community settings, with a focus on neurological conditions.

Simon researches the use of human interface technology for health and well-being application as well as for other domains that require human–computer interaction. The focus is to understand how technology like Virtual and Mixed Reality and game elements can influence user experience and support healthy and people with disabilities in achieving their full potential.