Our People

has 26 years of experience in human papillomavirus (HPV) and cervical cancer research. She leads a research team exploring the biology and immunology of HPV, including HPV diagnostics. She has over 40 peer-reviewed articles in the area of HPV and cervical cancer. Know More >

Is expert in socio-cultural public health and is active in community development work and research in health, education and gender issues.

Has expertise in point-of-care molecular diagnostics, reproductive biology, and next-generation sequencing; she is Principal Investigator on a major initiative creating a rapid, point-of-care diagnostic technology. Know More >

Ngāti Porou, carries out Kaupapa Māori research and has expertise in clinical trials and HPV and care pathways research; she is or has been a member of MOH advisory groups on implementation of HPV vaccine and HPV testing in NZ and leads an MOH-funded study on acceptability of HPV testing for Māori and an HRC-funded trial on HPV self-testing in NZ. Know More >

Is a health services researcher and epidemiologist and is expert in women's health issues, maternal mortality and morbidity. She has extensive experience in intervention studies in low resource settings, leveraging international grant funding and stakeholder engagement, and has carried out numerous successful international intervention studies. Know More >

Is the Associate Minister of Health in Samoa, a practicing O & G specialist, and a past President of the Pacific Society for Reproductive Health.

Is an O & G specialist with expertise in all aspects relating to colposcopy, and the treatment of women for cervical neoplasia. He has championed the role of the Pacific Society for Reproductive Health for more than 12 years in improving standards of care for women in pregnancy and cervical cancer advocacy and prevention. He established PSRH colposcopy workshops and has published on cervical cancer prevention in the region.

Is an O & G specialist, expert in gynaecological oncology and advanced pre-invasive disease of the genital tract. Know More >

Is a NZ medical graduate who trained in Anatomic Pathology in Chicago. She completed a fellowship in Cytopathology focussing on HPV. She is expert in cervical screening, clinical HPV testing and screening registries. Know More >

Is a molecular virologist who undertook his PhD on HIV at the Burnet Institute. He brings essential expertise in the technical and laboratory-based aspects of HPV testing (including quality control), across HPV testing platforms. Know More >

Is the Head of the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Unit at TTM hospital, Apia, Samoa. She has a strong passion to contribute and see the establishment of a national cervical screening, cervical cancer prevention and control programme for the women of Samoa and the Pacific.

Professor Diana Sarfati (MBChB, MPH, PhD, FNZCPHM) is a public health physician, cancer epidemiologist and health services researcher. She is Head of the Department of Public Health and the Director of the Cancer and Chronic Conditions (C3) Research Group at University of Otago, Wellington. She is currently a member of the New Zealand National Cancer Leadership Board (NZ), the Advisory Committee to International Agency for Research on Cancer’s (IARC) Pacific cancer hub, the Academic Advisory Committee to IARC on the International Cancer Benchmarking Project, and she is currently leading a Lancet Oncology series on cancer in small island developing states.
Professor Sarfati has led a large body of research relating to ethnic disparities in cancer outcomes in New Zealand. This work has resulted in the identification of key patient and health system factors that influence cancer survival. It has been used extensively by health policy makers, clinicians and other researchers to develop policies and practices that aim to reduce inequities in cancer outcomes.
Her work in screening has included both research and policy elements. She is a former member of the National Screening Advisory Group and the National Bowel Cancer Screening Advisory Committee. She also has research interests in type II diabetes and multimorbidity, which is the co-existence of long-term medical conditions including cancer and its comorbidities.
Professor Sarfati is a past member of the National Ethics Advisory Committee, the Bowel Cancer Screening Taskforce, the National Bowel Cancer Working Group, the Board of the Cancer Society (Wellington Division), the Cancer Society Medical and Scientific Assessment Committee (Wellington) and the National Cancer Society Health Promotion Committee. Know More >

Former Consultant Pathologist, CWM Hospital Suva, Fiji and Vaiola Hospital, Nukualofa Tonga.
HPV work has included involvement in pap smear screening and diagnosis of cervical cancers in women in Fiji, Tonga and Samoa and involved in HPV research; genotyping of HPV and prevalence of cervical cancer in Fiji.

Interests are:
• To continue to support HPV and cervical cancer diagnosis in the Small Pacific Island Countries, looking at a more accessible and effective ways of testing HPV infection in women, better management and prevention and possible ways to completely eradicate HPV infection in future.
• To work with small Pacific Island Diagnostic Laboratories to improve quality of laboratory diagnostic service to international standard.

HPV publications:
1: Tabrizi S, Law I, Buadromo E et al. (2011). Human Papillomavirus genotype prevalence in cervical biopsies from women diagnosed with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia in Fiji. Sex Health, 8:338-42
2: Law I, Fong J, Buadromo E et al. (2013). High Burden of cervical cancer in Fiji 2004-2007. Sex Health, 10:171-8.

A/Prof Brotherton is a public health physician and epidemiologist. As Medical Director of Population Health at the VCS Foundation, she has substantial expertise and experience in the delivery and evaluation of population based screening and immunisation programs and is internationally known for her work on HPV vaccine impact. She is a medical graduate from the University of Newcastle, has a Master’s degree in Public Health and a Doctorate of Philosophy from the University of Sydney, and holds a Fellowship in Public Health Medicine. She is an Honorary Principal Fellow at the School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne. For over fifteen years, Julia has been involved in research and policy development informing the implementation and evaluation of HPV vaccination programs in Australia. She was a lead investigator in Australian research which demonstrated the world’s first evidence of dramatic declines in both HPV infections and pre-cancerous cervical lesions in young women post- vaccination. She is a chief investigator of both the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Cervical Cancer Control and the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence TACTICS: Targeted Approaches to Improve Cancer Services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. She has 175 publications to date and is passionate about using public health data to undertake policy-relevant research. ​

Andrew Vallely is a clinical epidemiologist with the Public Health Interventions Research Group at the Kirby Institute for Infection and Immunity in Society, Faculty of Medicine, UNSW.  Andrew has over 18 years’ experience in international public health, HIV/STI and infectious disease interventions research. He has designed and led multi-disciplinary research teams in Australia, Kenya, Papua New Guinea (PNG), Solomon Islands, Tanzania, United Kingdom and Vanuatu.  Know More >

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Pamela Toliman is a Senior Scientific Officer in the Sexual and Reproductive Health Unit of the Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research. She is currently a PhD candidate at the Kirby Institute for Infection and Immunity in Society, Faculty of Medicine, UNSW. Her research is focussed on evaluating clinical algorithms for cervical cancer screening in Papua New Guinea. Know More >

Shelley Burich has been Chief Executive Officer for the Samoa Cancer Society since 2014.
Shelley has volunteered in the NGO sector for over 20 years in sport, agriculture and women organisations and has only taken up a paid NGO position since joining the Society. She has a strong background in administration and management and is committed to delivering key outcomes and successful results for any organisation she is involved with.
As well as being a board member for these NGO’s, Women in Business Development and Samoa Women’s Assn of Growers, she is also a successful vanilla farmer and owner of Vaoala Vanilla - exporting and manufacturing organic vanilla products from Samoa.
Since joining the Samoa Cancer Society, Shelley has applied her natural leadership abilities, passion and commitment to ‘making a difference’ towards cancer control in Samoa, and taking a pragmatic and collaborative approach to delivering improved cancer services for the people of Samoa.
Shelley is of Samoan descent with her father and paternal grandparents hailing from the villages of Vailima, Solosolo, Maluafou and Safotu (Savaii), whilst her mother is from Palmerston North, New Zealand. Shelley was born and raised in New Zealand until migrating with her parents and siblings to Samoa in 1970, and completed her education studies in Samoa, New Zealand and the USA. She is married with 5 children and 8 grand-children.