Hepatitis elimination and management update

Dr. Rawiri McKree Jansen is the Chief Medical Officer at Te Aka Whai Ora (Māori Health Authority). Prior to this, he had a secondment as interim Chief Medical Officer at the Interim Māori Authority. Rawiri was also the Clinical Director at the National Hauora Coalition for many years.

Dr. Gane trained in hepatology at the Institute of Liver Studies, King’s College School of Medicine, London, where he completed a thesis on the then newly discovered hepatitis C virus.  He now chairs the oversight committee for the Hepatitis C Elimination Strategy.

Dr. Gane is an investigator for many international clinical trials on viral hepatitis and has published over 500 papers in peer-reviewed journals. In 2011, Dr Gane received the New Zealand Health Research Council (NZHRC) annual Beaven Medal and in 2014, the NZHRC annual Liley Medal. In 2011, Dr. Gane was awarded Member of the Order of New Zealand for Services to Medicine.  In 2017, Dr Gane was named as New Zealand Innovator of the Year for his work towards HepC elimination in New Zealand.

Dr. Helen Liley is a GP who works as Clinical Editor for Auckland HealthPathways, Clinical Director of POAC,  and a GP liaison for Te Whatu Ora Northern Region. Helen led the work in developing the new national Hepatitis C clinical pathway which aims to provide greater consistency in the assessment and management of hepatitis C.  Helen qualified from Leeds University Medical School in the UK and came to NZ in 2008 after working as a General Practitioner and GPwSI in Drug Misuse in the UK for 10 years.

 Dr Karen Bartholomew is a Public Health Physician and researcher, and is the Director of Health Equity in Service Improvement and Innovation, Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand. Her research focuses on screening, health inequities and implementation science. Karen leads a HPV self-testing programme, Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA) research, an Endometrial Cancer programme and is a co-investigator for the Māori-led Lung Cancer Screening programme Te Oranga Pūkahukahu. Karen has a Microbiology degree, is a medical doctor and has a Masters of Public Health. She is a current member of the NZ National Screening Advisory Committee.

Chris qualified in UK, specializing initially in Internal Medicine and later Paediatrics. He came to New Zealand 1979 as paediatrician at Whakatane. He worked closely with Sandy Milne in early studies on epidemiology of Hepatitis B and on several vaccine trials in the 1980’s. He is principle or co-author of multiple journal articles on hepatitis B. He wrote guidelines for Primary Care on Hepatitis B and its management.

He is the Medical Director of the Hepatitis Foundation focussing on surveillance of chronic Hepatitis B including participation in multicentre trials of anti-viral therapy. He was also awarded the medal of RACP for outstanding services in a rural area, and Officer of New Zealand Order of Merit.