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Professor Barry Borman, Director
Barry has over 20 years of experience in applied epidemiology and environmental and occupational health. In this time, he has had over 80 nationally and internationally focused papers published in peer reviewed journals. He has also been directly responsible for or involved in the development, operation and evaluation of numerous health surveillance systems. From 2000 to 2008 he managed Public Health Intelligence (PHI), the epidemiology group of the Ministry of Health, New Zealand, which was disestablished in 2008. He had previously worked as a senior epidemiologist for a number of health authorities, as well as the Public Health Commission of New Zealand. Since 1987, he has been the director of the New Zealand Birth Defects Monitoring Programme (NZBDMP). For the past 20 years, he has been on the committee of the international clearinghouse for Birth Defects Surveillance and Research (ICBDSR) serving as secretary, vice chair and Chair for 2 years.
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Associate Professor Deborah Read, Public Health Physician
Deborah has a specialist interest in environmental health, who works as a consultant in the public sector. She joined the team part- time as an Associate Professor in 2011. Her experience includes positions in the Ministry of Health and other central government agencies and as a Medical Officer of Health in several district health boards. She was a member of the Environmental Risk Management Authority from 2007 to 2011. She is currently a member of the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms decision-making committee of the Environmental Protection Authority.
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Helene Marsters, Senior Analyst
Helene has a background in Geography and Environmental Studies and a Masters degree in Physical Geography. She joined the team in 2010 and currently leads the Natural Hazards project on social vulnerability indicators to flooding.
Domain lead: Natural hazards
Domain second: Population vulnerability, Hazardous substances
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Mathangi Shanthakumar, Biostatistician
Mathangi has a Master’s degree in Medical Statistics from the University of Auckland. She joined the team in 2010. Mathangi has previously worked as a consultant biostatistician for various health professionals and organizations including the Auckland District Health Board.
Domain second: Border health, Animals and human health
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Caroline Fyfe, Principal Analyst
Caroline graduated from Manchester Metropolitan University in 1990 with a BSc(Hons) with Environmental Studies with Economics. After a brief period working for the National Health Service, she continued her studies to gain a post-graduate qualification in secondary and tertiary education and human geography. She also worked as a teacher in London for seven years before immigrating to New Zealand 2004. Since then, she has worked in health research, initially as a Research and Education co-ordinator for Community Energy Action, a Christchurch based energy efficiency charity, and later for Cancer Control New Zealand in Wellington. She has a long standing interest in GIS which she developed further while working on her Post Graduate Diploma in Public Health. She joined the team in 2010 and has worked on a variety of projects including the development of Healthspace, a website displaying New Zealand health data through interactive maps; health needs assessment and community water fluoridation.
Domain lead: Population vulnerability, Indoor environment, Built environment
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Kylie Mason, Principal Analyst
Kylie leads the Environmental Burden of Disease project, which is part of the Environmental Health Indicators programme. Kylie completed a Masters degree in Applied Statistics at Victoria University in 2005, and later a post-grad certificate in public health at Otago University. Before joining the team in 2014, she worked for 8 years at the Ministry of Health, where she was involved in health statistics and research, including publishing results from the New Zealand Health Survey.
Domain lead: UV radiation, Transport
Domain second: Indoor environment, Population vulnerability, Natural hazards
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Kirstin Lindberg, Principal Analyst
Kirstin joined the team at the beginning of 2015. She has a diverse background, encompassing public health medicine, psychology and some computer science and mathematics. She has completed her public health medicine training, incorporating an MSc in Public Health from the University of Edinburgh, as well as a BSc from Auckland University. She is currently studying towards a Graduate Diploma in Applied Statistics and has an interest in applied epidemiology and statistics. She has worked in many different parts of the health sector in New Zealand in a variety of roles. Kirstin works across a range of projects in the EHI team, including environmental health indicator development and the environmental burden of disease project.
Domain lead: Alcohol-related harm, Animals and human health
Domain second: Climate change, Built environment
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Carolin Haenfling, Analyst
Carolin joined the team in 2016, working as an analyst. She has a background in Physical & Human Geography and recently completed her Master of Science in Physical Geography from Victoria University of Wellington.
Domain lead: Climate change
Domain second: Natural hazards, Air quality, Alcohol-related harm
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Rosemary Mwipiko, Analyst
Rosemary has a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science and Geography with a minor in Public Policy and is currently pursuing a
Post-graduate diploma in Geographic information Science at Victoria University of Wellington. She joined the team in 2016 to assist with data visualisation and now manages the Hazardous Substances Surveillance System project.
Domain lead: Hazardous substances
Domain second: Alcohol-related harm, Built environment
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Allan Schori, Analyst
Allan joined the team in 2017, working as an analyst. He has a background in Geography and GIS, recently completing his Postgraduate Diploma in GIS at the University of Canterbury in 2016.
Domain lead: Border health, Air quality
Domain second: Natural hazards, Population vulnerability, Climate change
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Gina Armstrong, Senior Analyst
Gina graduated from Victoria University with an MSc in Cell and Molecular Biology.
She joined the team in 2018 after working in Biosecurity Readiness & Response at the Ministry for Primary Industries.
Domain lead: Recreational Water Quality
Domain second: Hazardous Substances
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Dr Riz Firestone, Senior Research Officer
Riz currently leads a research program that focuses on life-course epidemiology across a range of non-communicable diseases, including maternal and child health, respiratory health, and investigation of the social-cultural determinants of obesity. She will be using this Fellowship to advance her skillset, knowledge and expertise in the area of obesity research and interventions, Pacific youth and participation action research with the aim of developing a fully-fledged programme of research which is internationally competitive and will sustain her career in Pacific health research for the long-term.
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Yuliya Evdokimova, PhD student
Yuliya Evdokimova is a PhD student who has joined the team working on the EHI Programme.
PhD topic: Monitoring the environmental health of New Zealand: A composite environmental health index.
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Professor Stephen Haslett, Consultant Biostatistician
Steve is a Emeritus Professor of Statistics in the Institute of Fundamental Sciences at Massey University. He provides regular statistical support to the EHI team. His research interests are in sample survey design and analysis, small area estimation especially of poverty, linear and generalized linear mixed models, and statistical consulting. He has been involved in small area estimation projects for the UN World Food Programme and the World Bank in Bangladesh, Philippines, Nepal, Bhutan, Cambodia, Pakistan and Timor-Leste, and in more wide ranging projects linked to government statistics offices in over 20 countries including Thailand, Uganda, Kiribati, Vanuatu, Samoa, Fiji, Tonga and Azerbaijan.
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Geoffrey Donovan, Consultant
Geoffrey is an economist with the USDA Forest Service based in Portland, Oregon. His research focus is quantifying the public-health benefits of exposure to nature. His past work has looked at the relationship between the natural environment, birth outcomes, cardiovascular disease, and academic performance. His work in New Zealand is focused on the impact of the natural environment on childhood asthma and ADHD.
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