A voice for the VULNERABLE
Enthusiastically endorsed as a NEXT Woman of the Year candidate by two top figures in NZ medicine, public health physician and cancer epidemiologist Diana was described as “a champion of the vulnerable” by one and a person of “international influence” by another.
Her work was labelled ground-breaking, authoritative, and definitive. Her impact? “More than what most doctors could hope to achieve in a lifetime.”
The University of Otago professor who, in August, was named interim national director of the government’s newly established Cancer Control Agency, is more restrained in her self-assessment. Not dwelling on the long list of achievements that led to her latest appointment – including the extent to which her research was the impetus for the government setting up the agency – she speaks instead of what motivated her to push for better cancer outcomes. “It became clear to me there was a lack of leadership in relation to cancer, cancer treatment and cancer control here in New Zealand, and that we were probably starting to fall a bit behind the rest of the world,” she says.
‘It became clear to me there was a lack of leadership in relation to cancer’
Her solution was the Cancer Care at a Crossroads conference which she co-convened in early 2019. Bringing together stakeholders from the cancer community, including patients, clinicians, surgeons, oncologists, and members of the Ministry of Health, it was the launch pad for the history-making petition by terminally ill, Southland-based cancer patient Blair Vining. Blair’s petition called for a national cancer agency to address – among other things – the ‘postcode lottery’ system that, in terms of access to cancer treatment options, heavily disadvantages those in certain parts of the country. Presented to parliament in July with more than 140,000 signatures, it seemed no coincidence that within weeks, health minister David Clark was unveiling the Ministry’s 10-year National Cancer Action Plan and, subsequently, the Cancer Control Agency.
Two weeks post-announcement, Diana is realistic about the work ahead, but raring to go. “It’s a big job, a daunting job. Anybody who doesn’t think it’s a daunting job obviously doesn’t understand the job,” she laughs. “But I’m excited to get a system in place that will allow us to do better.”
Diana must achieve three key things before the agency’s December 1 launch date. The first is sorting out its governance, without which, she says, “you can’t expect to make progress anywhere else”. The second step is consulting with the cancer community, to understand what its needs are. The third is ensuring all the work being done in steps one and two is going to reduce inequality of cancer outcomes; that is, the disproportionate impact cancer has on Maori and Pacific Islanders. It’s a cause Diana has been championing for the bulk of her career.
“Back in my early days as a clinician,” she explains, “it was sort of accepted Maori had worse survival rates, and that this was because they weren’t going to the doctor, they weren’t recognising symptoms, they weren’t taking up treatments they were offered
