Precision Driven Health appoints Māori health director

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Precision Driven Health (PDH), a public-private research partnership between Orion Health, the University of Auckland and Waitemata DHB, has appointed a Māori health director to the research leadership team to ensure data-driven research is leading to positive outcomes for Māori.

“As we start to develop our research further into building tools that will help to improve specific patient outcomes, we want to ensure our research is meaningful and applicable for all New Zealanders,” says general manager of Precision Driven Health Dr Kevin Ross.

“We want to ensure strong alignment between PDH research projects and the New Zealand Health Strategy, including how we can contribute to better health outcomes for Māori.”

Chad Paraone, a director of Finora Management Services with 25 years’ experience in the New Zealand health sector, most of which has been spent in managerial and consulting positions, will be joining PDH as Māori health director.

Paraone brings valuable skills and experience in Māori health, strategic planning, policy development and project implementation to the role. His previous roles have included working as programme director for the Counties Manukau DHB and their Let’s Beat Diabetes programme, ACC general manager – Māori development and customer access, and his current roles include strategic advisor for Māori at ACC.

Paraone has also worked for the Ministry of Health helping business groups lead innovative practices and new models of care within the New Zealand primary care sector. He is also an independent chairman for the Rotorua Alliance Leadership Team, a group that guides and contributes to local service strategy and planning based on the needs of the population for the Rotorua area.

One of the key principles in the New Zealand Health Strategy is to ensure that new advances in technology in the health sector are able to provide equivalent benefits to Māori as to the rest of the population.

Precision Driven Health applies data science to understand the massive volume of data that is collected on a person, and aims to develop tools to make the insights from this data meaningful for an individual. Making up around 15% of New Zealand’s population, the insights from Māori health data will impact a significant group of the population.

As programme director for the Counties Manukau DHB’s Let’s Beat Diabetes programme, Paraone led a team that implemented several initiatives to help reduce obesity, slow the progression of risk and disease, and increase the quality of life for people with diabetes in the Counties Manukau area, of which Māori make up 16%.

Paraone will work alongside the general manager and our clinical, commercial and science directors to identify opportunities for Precision Driven Health, review proposals, evaluate progress and engage the wider community with their research projects. Their role will involve prioritising problems and identifying innovation opportunities in health data science from a Māori health perspective.

Source: Precision Driven Health, 27 August 2018

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