Osteoarthritis Aotearoa New Zealand (OAAoNZ)

Toward this objective, we will:

• Develop and promote a mission statement for our kaupapa, which demonstrates the best care for all people with OA in Aotearoa New Zealand.
• Advance the development of equity in clinical services, research and policy development and ensure collaboration with Māori and Pacific peoples at every level (i.e. clinical service development and implementation, research and policy).
• Promote advocacy and policy change that improves care delivery and quality of life for people living with OA in Aotearoa New Zealand.
• Connect clinical service providers to build collaboration and facilitate consistent best practice care from Te Whatu Ora Health NZ and private health providers.
• Connect OA researchers from diverse backgrounds to foster collaboration and facilitate a cohesive approach to OA research in Aotearoa New Zealand informing the evidence-based content of a National Model of Care for Osteoarthritis.
• Work to build new and constructive relationships with New Zealanders who have OA to ensure that their voices are valued and visible when undertaking our work, but also to give them the confidence and ability to participate in our kaupapa.

• Identify research and innovative health delivery priorities for the next three to five years that offer the greatest potential benefit for alleviating the growing burden of OA.
• Identify research and innovative health delivery priorities that match the strengths and expertise of the Aotearoa New Zealand OA research community to achieve the goals under objective 1.
• Identify multidisciplinary (or cross-sector) initiatives and strategies to advance OA research and innovative health delivery into priority areas.
• Connect the OA research and innovative health delivery community, and encourage increased collaboration in OA research and innovative health delivery in Aotearoa New Zealand.
• Facilitate a consistent approach to OA research and innovative health delivery in this country from basic science to translational research and implementation by forming an OA Research Network and facilitating interdisciplinary and cross-institutional collaboration, including the voice of the OA consumer.

Sue is a biomedical scientist with interest in Primary cilia, Cartilage and osteoarthritis, mechanotransduction, imaging, extracellular matrix, notochordal cells, and placental mesenchymal stem cells. She is a senior lecturer in the Department of Anatomy and Medical Imaging in the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences at the University of Auckland. Sue is also Chair of the Arthritis NZ Mateponapona Aotearoa New Zealand Board of Trustees and Research Committee.

Adam is a Fellow of the Australasian College of Sport and Exercise Physicians (ACSEP) and worked clinically as the Head of the Medical Department at Olympic Park Sports Medicine Centre in Melbourne, until 2021. He now spends most of his clinical practice at Axis Alpine Sports Medicine in Queenstown, Aotearoa. Adam was President of ACSEP from 2016 to 2019 where he strongly advocated for equality, inclusion and diversity in medicine and led the ACSEP endorsement of the Australian National Osteoarthritis Strategy launched in 2018. 

Daniel is a senior lecturer in the physiotherapy programme at Auckland University of Technology, where he has taught for the past 15 years. His teaching and research interests include managing acute and chronic musculoskeletal conditions, patient and public education and clinical service design, focusing on the management of osteoarthritis. Most recently, this research has involved the development of the Aotearoa Osteoarthritis Guidebook. Daniel spends his free time tramping and trying to keep up with his two daughters.

Haxby is Director of both the Osteoarthritis Aotearoa New Zealand Research Network, and the Centre for Musculoskeletal Outcomes Research based in the University of Otago Medical School. His Management of Osteoarthritis (MOA Maimoatanga Osteoarthritis) research programme conducts clinical trials, outcomes research, cost-effectiveness modelling, and implementation and evaluation of new health delivery models.

Richard is an Associate Professor in the School of Clinical Sciences at Auckland University of Technology. Richard is a Co-Director of the Health and Rehabilitation Research Institute, at AUT, leading the Active Living and Rehabilitation: Aotearoa (ALARA) research group. ALARA is an inter-professional research group, with strong research work and collaborations within the field of osteoarthritis.  Richard is a physiotherapist and researcher with an interest in the rehabilitation of long-term disorders, for example chronic musculoskeletal disorders such as low-back pain and osteoarthritis.

Richard is the Research Manager at Arthritis New Zealand and oversees the organisation’s research activities. This includes coordinating research grants and summer scholarships, engaging with our organisation’s key stakeholders and networking with the wider arthritis research community. Richard has worked in market research, consultancy, the academic sector and the not-for-profit arena. He has been involved in health and wellbeing projects relating to undiagnosed HIV infection, disability and transport accessibility, dementia daycare programmes, COVID-19, patient experience, sports injuries, and alcohol harm.

Anne is Associate Professor of Health Promotion and Head of School of Health at Victoria University of Wellington. Her research interests focus on theoretical approaches to lifestyle behaviour change in adolescents and adults, ranging from preventive health behaviours and attitudes (physical activity, food choice, weight management and dieting) to the benefits of exercise and diet in mental health (depression, eating disorders). Anne also has an interest in osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. Her research employs various methodology ranging from qualitative and quantitative approaches to interventions.

Ben is head of the Department of General Practice, University of Otago Christchurch, and is a GP in Lyttelton.  He was PI on an HRC-funded randomised controlled trial of nortriptyline as an analgesic for people with knee OA.  This experience helped persuade him that hunting for better pharmacological approaches to OA is probably less important than improving access to care to achieve earlier diagnosis and better education, and providing better support to help patients with OA make healthy lifestyle changes.

Chris is the Professional Advisor Policy and Practice at Physiotherapy NZ.  She advocates for PNZ members and leads a number of projects that promote the work of physiotherapists as important contributors to improved health outcomes for New Zealanders.  Her previous roles have included Manager of Rehabilitation, ACC Clinical Services Team; Vocational Rehabilitation Manager Burwood Pain Management Centre. The topic of her Masters thesis was “The role of the New Zealand small business employer in returning injured employees to work”. 

Dane is a Performance Dietitian, who has worked extensively with New Zealand’s elite athletes and teams (currently Blues Super Rugby & NZ Football). He’s also a part of WHISPA, a specialist group dedicated to optimising female health and performance. In addition to sport Dane specialises in working with patients suffering from RED-S, fertility issues, osteoarthritis and diabetes.

Martin is Clinical Lead of the Southern Community Orthopaedic Triage Service (SCOTS). Based in Dunedin, this non-surgical pathway for people with persisting shoulder or knee pain is the first publicly-funded, privately-provided pathway for OA patients of its kind in New Zealand. SCOTS’ primary aim is to provide timely access in the community for appropriate non-surgical care by appropriate health professionals. Martin has extensive experience in NZ and Australia in acute and chronic musculoskeletal condition management in the public, private and educational contexts. He resides in Milton with his wife and large garden (in that order of importance).

Philip hails from the UK but considers New Zealand home, having emigrated with his family when he was a boy. Previous roles include Director of Development and Alumni Relations at the University of Otago, General Manager Education at the Charities Commission and Chief Executive at Sport Whanganui. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce and a Master of Business Administration. Philip is married to Lesley and they have a daughter. He is an avid fan of DIY, golf, cricket and rugby.

Rebecca is an academic rheumatologist active in clinical practice, research and education.  She undertook rheumatology training in Melbourne and a PhD at the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research which examined inflammatory mechanisms in gout. Rebecca’s clinical work as consultant rheumatologist at the Wellington Regional Rheumatology Unit at Hutt Hospital.  She is a Professor of Medicine at University of Otago Wellington. Rebecca’s research interests include clinical rheumatology, self-management of chronic disease, technology in education and health.

Samantha is a Registered Physiotherapist and has been a physio at local, regional, national and international levels. Sam has a clinical and research interest in post-traumatic osteoarthritis. Living with this condition herself she is very passionate about it and is working towards completing her Masters which will focus on understanding and improving the experience of post-traumatic knee osteoarthritis. She is currently teaching on the Physiotherapy course at AUT and is the proud Mum of two young girls.

Sandra is the CEO Physiotherapy New Zealand, and previously CEO of Arthritis New Zealand.  Passionately working in public health for more than 30 years to improve health outcomes for New Zealanders through policy and health system changes.  Committed to this mahi to improve the outcomes for people with osteoarthritis by implementing evidence based, cost-effective treatment options throughout Aotearoa/New Zealand.  The evidence strongly suggests changing osteoarthritis treatment options will improve health equity for Māori and Pacific peoples.   

Sarah is a Lecturer in Physiotherapy at the University of Auckland and a musculoskeletal physiotherapist with a clinical focus on managing knee injuries. Her research area covers the consequences of Anterior Cruciate Ligament injury and reconstruction, with a current focus on understanding the development of early osteoarthritis following ACL injury and ACLR and how we can identify or classify these patients in clinical settings (at point of care).

Simon is a specialist knee surgeon, Director of orthopaedic research at North Shore Hospital and an Associate Professor at the University of Auckland. He underwent specialist training at Stanford University and an Arthroplasty Fellowship at the Mayo Clinic.   He has over 100 published articles and this research is recognised worldwide, winning the three North American Knee Society Awards, the Mark Coventry Award 2013, Chitranjan Ranawat Award 2016, and the John Insall Award in 2017.   His doctoral thesis is based on a technique to prevent infection in knee replacement.

In July 2021 OAAoNZ hosted an event called the ‘Taupuni Hao Huatau Osteoarthritis Basecamp’ at the University of Auckland. This one-day osteoarthritis symposium brought together clinicians from all disciplines, health delivery organisations, consumers and researchers with a particular interest in managing osteoarthritis (OA) in Aotearoa. 

A series of keynote and plenary speakers presented on innovative and best-practice healthcare delivery models and clinical programmes for OA and OA research in Aotearoa and attendees contributed to priority-setting for health delivery innovations and OA research in Aotearoa.

The Osteoarthritis Aotearoa New Zealand (OAAoNZ) 2022 Summit built on the foundations of the Basecamp event by:

• Continuing to co-create a national Model of Care for osteoarthritis care for Aotearoa New Zealand.
• Developing a list of national priorities in osteoarthritis research.

Speakers from Aotearoa New Zealand included Dr Andrew Connolly (Counties Manukau Chief Medical Officer and Chair of Planned Care Taskforce), Rebecca George (HIRA Director- Data and Digital, Ministry of Health), Timi Tapara (Founder and clinical director, Tū Tonu Health Centre, Hamilton), Dr Martin Chadwick (Ministry of Health), Catherine Willis (Te Whatu Ora BoP) and Annalees Jones (Body in Motion), and Philip Kearney (Arthritis NZ Mateponapona Aotearoa).

Presentations covered issues and themes such as considering Te Tiriti o Waitangi when designing OA services, challenges and opportunities in relation to managing weight, a Te Ao Māori approach in primary care, and the role GPs play in OA management.

Attendees also heard panel discussions focusing on priorities for public and patient partnership and equitable health delivery innovation for people with OA and culturally responsive models of care for the management of OA.

The Osteoarthritis Summit 2023 took place in Dunedin, entitled 'Shaping an OA Model of Care for Aotearoa New Zealand'. This grew from concerns about health system responses to the growing burden of OA in Aotearoa New Zealand, and the absence of a National Model of Care for managing the condition. 

The key objectives were:

1) To co-create via active partnerships a National Model of Care for Osteoarthritis, and

2) To develop a list of national priorities in osteoarthritis research and innovative health delivery.

For more information about the 2023 event, click here.