Our People
The CAHRE Team
Associate Professor Rachel Simon-Kumar
Co-Director
Rachel Simon-Kumar’s research encompasses themes in gender studies, migration and diversity, and international development. A particular focus of her research is among ethnic women in New Zealand in areas such as: family and sexual violence, abortion, and politics. Her most recent book is Intersections of Inequality, Migration and Diversification: The Politics of Mobility in Aotearoa/New Zealand (co-edited with F. Collins and W. Friesen, Palgrave Macmillan, July 2019). She has held research grants from the Health Research Council (2019) and the Royal Society of New Zealand (2009, 2019)
Associate Professor Roshini Peiris-John
Co-Director
Roshini Peiris-John is an Associate Professor in Epidemiology at the University of Auckland’s School of Population Health. She has a keen interest in inequities that challenge the health and wellbeing of ethnic minority communities and is particularly interested in research on environmental determinants of health and disease. She is involved in research both in New Zealand and Sri Lanka, her country of birth. As a member of University of Auckland’s Adolescent Health Research Group, she has been involved in the national secondary school surveys and is currently engaged in the Youth’19 Rangatahi Smart Survey (https://www.youth19.ac.nz/) funded by the Health Research Council.
Dr Rodrigo Ramalho
Internal Committee Member
Rama is based in the Department of Social and Community Health at the School of Population Health. He graduated as a psychiatrist in Paraguay. As a psychiatrist, Rama has worked in several settings, including rural mental health and addiction services. Rama completed his PhD in Population Health at the University of Auckland.
Informed by a critical theory perspective, Rama’s teaching, research, and publications aim to contribute to the development of person- and community-centred, ground-up, and culturally responsive health care and health policies.
Rama’s main professional interests include mental health, addiction, ethnic minorities, migrant communities, and grounded theory.
Annie Chiang
Internal Committee Member
Annie was born in Taiwan and has grown up in New Zealand. She completed her BHSc/BSc, PGDipPH and MPH at the University of Auckland. Currently, Annie is a PhD candidate with the section of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Her doctoral research will focuses on missingness in government collected datasets.
Her research involvements have included projects related to mental health, hearing health, deprivation, refugee settlement and gender bias, all of which utilise her skills as a data analyst within the Statistics New Zealand Integrated Data Infrastructure.
