- Clinical Senior Lecturer
- TI Convenor
MBChB(Auckland) FRNZCGP
Email maira.patu@otago.ac.nz
About Maira Patu (Kāi Tahu, Kāti Māmoe, Waitaha, Te Arawa)
Dr Maira Patu is a General Practitioner and Senior Lecturer at the University of Otago, Christchurch, within the Māori/Indigenous Health Innovation (MIHI) Unit. Raised in Waihopai (Invercargill), she works to make medical education more equitable and help future doctors feel better prepared to care for Māori whānau.
She has worked as a GP from South Auckland to Murihiku, including helping to establish one of the first Very Low-Cost Access practices in Waihopai with Ngā Kete Mātauranga Pounamu. Maira is a graduate of the University of Auckland and a Fellow of the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners.
During the COVID-19 response, she was Clinical Lead for the MIHI Mobile Vaccination Team, learning alongside colleagues how to better reach Māori communities. Beyond her clinical and teaching roles, she serves her community in a number of external capacities — contributing to governance, curriculum development, and health system advocacy — always with a focus on supporting Māori health and whānau wellbeing.
Maira is involved in the design, development, implementation and evaluation of the Hauora Māori curriculum at UOC. Maira is a member of the Hauora Māori Vertical Module Teaching group of the MBChB Curriculum Committee. Maira also contributes to the MIHI post-graduate short courses that support the professional development of health professionals in the Hui Process and Meihana Model.
Maira has a focus on developing curriculum which utilises simulation and draws on local Māori patient experiences in the health system to support transformative practice.
Teaching
Undergraduate medical curriculum
Postgraduate short courses
- MIHI RMO 301
- MIHI 501 Clin Psych
- MIHI 501 RANZCOG
- MIHI 501 Health Professionals
Publications
Patu, M., Kerdemelidis, M., Summers, N., Monk, N. J., Philpott, A., Beard, A., Geddes, J., … Mark, S., & Pitama, S. (2025). Introducing the Hauora Māori Equity Toolkit for Specialist Healthcare Services (HMET-SHS). New Zealand Medical Journal/Te ara tika o te hauora hapori, 138(1622), 80-93. doi: 10.26635/6965.6942 Journal - Research Other
Harris, C., Bidwell, S., Hudson, B., Patu, M., McKerchar, C., & Al-Busaidi, I. S. (2025). Te hāpai i te mana wāhine, te takahi i te mana wāhine: Māori women's experiences of empowerment and disempowerment in sexual and reproductive healthcare. Journal of Primary Health Care, 17(2), 154-160. doi: 10.1071/hc25037 Journal - Research Article
Campbell, V., Kelly, P., Wallace, L., Beckert, L., & Patu, M. (2025). Community spirometry reaching equality not equity in Waitaha/Canterbury. Internal Medicine Journal, 55(Suppl. 1), TP246. doi: 10.1111/imj.70003 Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract
Harris, C., Bidwell, S., Hudson, B., Patu, M., McKerchar, C., & Al-Busaidi, I. S. (2025). He mana tō te mātauranga - Knowledge is power: A qualitative study of sexual and reproductive healthcare experiences of wāhine Māori. Journal of Primary Health Care, 17(2), 146-153. doi: 10.1071/HC24103 Journal - Research Article
Cashmore, B., Tunnicliffe, D. J., Palmer, S., Blythen, L., Boag, J., Kostner, K., … Patu, M., … Walker, R., on behalf of the CARI Guidelines Steering Committee. (2024). Australian and New Zealand Living Guideline cholesterol-lowering therapy for people with chronic kidney disease (CARI Guidelines): Reducing the evidence-practice gap. Nephrology, 29(8), 495-509. doi: 10.1111/nep.14295 Journal - Research Article