Page 17 - Islands Business January 2021

AUT Associate

Professor receives

inaugural PHANZ

Pasifika Award

Associate Professor Dr El-Shadan Tautolo has been recognised for
his outstanding achievement and leadership in Pacific public health.
The Public Health Association of New Zealand honours
outstanding contributions to the nation’s public health in the annual
PHANZ Awards. Tautolo was the recipient of the inaugural 2020
Pasifika Award, which he dedicated to the late Dr Joe Williams.
Tautolo says, Dr Williams’ work provided an example of how public
health research can influence clinical practice and help address
health issues for Pacific peoples.
The award was unexpected.
“I was really surprised, but happy to accept it on behalf of our
Pacific families and communities, and all of the people that I work
with in Pacific health research,” he says.
For more than 15 years, Tautolo has championed Pacific health,
initially as a doctoral student and emerging researcher, and now as
an associate professor of public health and Director of the Pacific
Health Research Centre based at AUT South Campus.
His primary area of research is the health and wellbeing of Pacific
families and communities in New Zealand, and he leads numerous
research projects, most notably the ground-breaking longitudinal
Pacific Islands Families (PIF) Study, which tracks the development
of almost 1400 children born at Auckland’s Middlemore Hospital in
2000.
“We have been able to build a comprehensive picture of what
happens with these families and how the children have developed
over time. It has allowed us to focus on important issues for Pacific
families, and develop strategies to support them,” says Tautolo.
His research has had a significant impact on the lives of Pacific
people. Tautolo’s academic achievements to date include more
than 50 peer-reviewed journal articles and $15 million in research
funding. The findings have informed the Ministry of Health’s food
and nutrition guidelines, the CMDHB Let’s Beat Diabetes service,
Tala Pasifika smoking cessation interventions, and early screening of
otitis media (an infection of the middle ear) in infants.
In 2020, Tautolo collaborated with AUT’s Office of Pacific
Advancement and the Pacific Media Network to create a series of
animated videos highlighting key findings from the PIF Study over
the past 20 years. Each video explored a critical issue (ranging from
nutrition and immunisation, to mental health and cultural resilience)
spoken in one of the nine languages celebrated as part of the Ministry
of Pacific Peoples’ annual Pacific Language Weeks. Collectively, the
videos attracted more than 500,000 views and were shared 3,000
times.
Tautolo often appears in media, commenting on issues that affect
the health and wellbeing of Pacific peoples. And he maintains strong
roots in the community through family, church and his professional
network.

Associate Professor El-Shadan Tautolo
Islands Business, January 2021 17