National Ethics Advisory Committee
Kāhui Matatika o te Motu
NEAC has up to 12 members who are appointed by the Minister of Health for a term of up to three years.
The members of NEAC are representative of a broad range of disciplines, professions and interests. Members bring expertise in ethics, health and disability research, health service provision and leadership, public health, epidemiology, law, Māori health and consumer advocacy.
Current members of NEAC are listed below.
Membership role: Te Ao Māori perspectives
Lindsey Te Ata o Tū MacDonald, Ngāi Tahu, is a senior lecturer in political philosophy at the University of Canterbury and a research associate of Kā Waimaero | Ngāi Tahu Centre. His early career was in New Zealand’s State Services Commission and Te Puni Kōkiri (Ministry of Maori Development). He completed his PhD while lecturing in the Māori department at the University of Canterbury. In 2008 he joined the Department of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Canterbury.
In 2007, he became the Māori member of the University of Canterbury Human Ethics Committee and served as Chair between 2012 and 2016. He has been a member of the New Zealand Ethics Committee since 2013, a not-for-profit independent ethics committee assisting researchers unable to access University ethics committees, serving as Chair 2017-19. That committee is now the Aotearoa Research Ethics Committee, and Lindsey is co-chair of their management trust.
Appointed December 2021.
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Associate Professor Vanessa JordanMembership role: Epidemiologist
Vanessa is an epidemiologist/methodologist specialising in trial design, biostatistics, systematic reviews and epidemiology. Vanessa holds a doctorate in epidemiology and biochemistry from the University of Otago and currently works as a senior research fellow at the University of Auckland and is academic coordinator for the post graduate paper on systematic review methodology run at the School of Population Health. As a methods specialist she works with researchers in public health, mental health, education and clinical medicine, and as such works with both qualitative and quantitative research methods.
Vanessa also holds the position of New Zealand Cochrane Fellow. Cochrane is an international charity organisation with a vision of a world of improved health where decisions about health and health care are informed by high-quality, relevant and up-to-date synthesized research evidence. As part of this organisation she is an internationally recognised trainer in the methods used to complete Cochrane systematic reviews and holds an elected position on the international Cochrane Council.
Appointed 26 May 2020.
Dr Hansa PatelMembership role: Health Researcher
Hansa is a science technician involved in Clinical Research, and provides coordination duties for a family-run paediatric health service. After living and working around the world, she settled in New Zealand and recently completed a PhD in Clinical Research focusing on osteoporosis risk factors. Her clinical research interests include the voices of young people, bone health, habitual sporting activity, alcohol and smoking, dental fluorosis, and sexually transmitted diseases.
Appointed August 2021.
Edmond CarrucanMembership role: Legal perspectives
Ngāti Hako, Tainui, Ngāti Porou
Edmond is a promising Māori legal academic and has expertise in Tikanga Māori.
Edmond was formerly employed as a Junior Crown Prosecutor at Meredith Connell. He is undertaking a PhD in Law.
Appointed December 2021.
Membership role: Community perspectives
Maree grew up in Tairawhiti and initially worked in the forestry industry there and in the Bay of Plenty. As a management consultant in natural resources fields she helped governments, companies and community organisations with systems, asset evaluation, quality management and sustainable land use. She has lived and worked around the world with a focus on Australasia and South East Asia. She has a B. For. Sci. (First Class Hons), an MSc (Oxford) and an MBA (Melbourne).
In 2013 she and her son became sick with ME/CFS; they have remained disabled since that time. Maree is active in international advocacy related to post-infection conditions and consumer participation in health care management and research. She has contributed to the development of clinical guidelines and research programmes in a number of countries.
Julia BlackMembership role: Consumer perspectives
Julia is currently writing her dissertation for a Masters in Bioethics and Health Law at the University of Otago, with a focus on ethical and legal issues in precision oncology and has a B. Health Sci (Health Promotion). Her professional interests include advocacy for cancer patients and their families as they navigate the complex treatment and surveillance options available in both the private and public healthcare systems. Her motivation to contribute to these areas was driven by the death of her husband Malcolm Black from colorectal cancer in 2019. Julia also has a strong interest in adapting existing clinical and research methods to better honour and respect the cultural values and beliefs of Māori. She is also the consumer representative on the Dunedin Colorectal Cohort governance committee.
Appointed September 2023.
Tania MoerenhoutTania Moerenhout is a general practitioner and Lecturer at the Bioethics Centre of the University of Otago in Ōtepoti Dunedin. She combines academic work with a part-time clinical position. She graduated as a general practitioner in Belgium in 2009 and completed a PhD in philosophy in 2019 at Ghent University before moving to Aotearoa New Zealand in 2020. Her doctoral research examined ethical challenges related to electronic health record use with a focus on the patient-provider relationship and patient empowerment.
Her current research interests are situated in the field of digital health ethics. She is researching ethical challenges of online consultations and the ethical implications of the use of assistive technology in older adults’ care. Next to this, she has an interest in the ethics of artificial intelligence use in health care, and virtual/augmented reality applications.
She is the convenor of the Digital Health Information Governance and Ethics paper in the Digital Health postgraduate programme at the University of Otago. Tania is Chair of the WONCA (World Organisation of Family Medicine) Working Party on Ethics and Professionalism and a member of the NZ Telehealth Forum Research, Audit, and Evaluation Working Group.
