HEATHER CAME & ASSOCIATES
PURSUING RACIAL JUSTICE.
Heather Came
Activist scholar at large
Dr Heather Came is a seventh generation Pākehā New Zealander (tangata Tiriti) who grew up on Ngātiwai land. She has worked for 32 years in health promotion and/or public health and has a long involvement in social justice activism.
In 2023 she founded Heather Came & Associates a consultancy specialising in pursuing racial justice. As an activist scholar her work has influenced public health, equity practice, and education in Aotearoa. In 2021 she was joint winner of Kāhui Hauora Tūmatanui Public Health Champion Award for her lifetime contribution to public health.
Heather’s pioneering investigations into institutional racism within the health sector have set national benchmarks and informed systemic reform. Her expert evidence has supported Waitangi Tribunal claimants, United Nations shadow reports and influenced government reviews, public health guidelines, and workforce training frameworks.
She co-developed Critical Tiriti Analysis (CTA), a practical retrospective and prospective tool now widely used to assess whether policies and practices honour Te Tiriti. This framework has guided local government planning, health reforms, and civil society strategies, becoming a cornerstone for equity-focused policy design.
Heather has published over 60 peer reviewed journal articles and has an H-index of 26 with 2271 citations of her work. She is currently a co-Principal Investigator with Clive Aspin on a prestigious Royal Society Te Apārangi- Marden research grant focused on “Honourable Kāwanatanga: Preparing for a Tiriti-based future”.
Grounded in Te Tiriti o Waitangi and a lifelong commitment to antiracism, her research and teaching are deeply interconnected—each amplifying the other to create lasting change. Heather is an experienced Te Tiriti and antiracism trainer.
Heather is a transformative educator who equips students and professionals alike with the knowledge and courage to challenge racism and embed equity in their practice. She integrates Tiriti-based frameworks into all her teaching, making complex theory accessible and actionable.
She has mentored and supervised many postgraduate students—particularly Tauiwi allies, Māori, Pacific students—who have gone on to leadership roles in health, policy, and academia. She continues to supervise postgraduate students through Te Herenga Waka - Victoria University where she is an Adjunct Professor. Her award-winning teaching innovations have embedded antiracism, Tiriti application, equity analysis, and critical policy evaluation across tertiary curricula.
Heather regularly delivers bespoke professional development to health providers, community, and government agencies. These sessions have helped shift organisational cultures, built capability, and supported the implementation of Tiriti-based and antiracist practice nationwide.
Associates
Heather Came & Associates is a network of skilled trainers and researchers passionate about racial justice
Joy Ratima
Project & Office Manager
Joy has over 20 years experience in administration, office management and event planning, previously working as Office Manager and EA to the CEO at Robert Walters in Melbourne.
She moved back to Aotearoa late in 2021 to immerse her whānau in culture and enable her tamariki to attend school in New Zealand as well as being able to spend more time with family.
Joy has 5 children and loves being part of the core team at Heather Came & Associates.
Email Joy - joyaratima@gmail.com
Grant Berghan
Grant is from the Tai Tokerau region with links to Ngāpuhi, Ngātiwai and Te Rarawa iwi. He has extensive experience working in Māori development and the public health sector. Along with Tania Hodges, of Digital Indigenous.com, he is a co-facilitator of Māori leadership programmes throughout New Zealand.
Grant has extensive senior management experience. He was the public health lead for Te Aka Whai Ora after being the Chief Executive Officer of the Public Health Association d. Prior to that, Grant spent worked in regional economic development, firstly with the Ministry for Primary Industries, and then with the Provincial Development Unit administering the Provincial Growth Fund in Northland.
He is a life member of STIR: Stop Institutional Racism and a previous recipient of the PHANZ Public Health Champion Award.
Wiremu Woodard
Wiremu Woodard (Tūhoe, Ngāti Kahungunu) is an Indigenous therapist, father of four, activist, environmentalist, sometimes contemporary dancer and artist. Wiremu is committed to reducing health disparities for Māori and promoting social justice.
He currently works in community practice at KERERU and at North Shore Hospice. In a previous life he taught Psychotherapy & Counselling programmes at Auckland University of Technology. Wiremu is a founding member of Waka Oranga - a group of dynamic Indigenous Māori practitioners committed to emancipatory freedom.
Mershen Pillay
Mershen Pillay is an Associate Professor and Programme Leader in Speech and Language Therapy at Massey University, with over three decades of global experience. Shaped by South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation process, his approach to healthcare equity brings post-apartheid insights to New Zealand's decolonisation. As an audiologist and speech-language therapist, his clinical expertise includes neurogenic communication disabilities, dysphagia, transgender voice, and occupational hearing loss within marginalised communities.
Committed to indigenising tertiary education, Mershen connects South Africa's reconciliation framework with Aotearoa’s Tiriti-based foundations. His practical research partners with community organisations to improve healthcare outcomes for Indigenous and underserved populations. Globally, as a member of the WHO’s World Rehabilitation Alliance, he applies this community-centred approach to health policy, currently focusing on food sovereignty and swallowing disabilities.
Leah Waipuka-Bain
Leah Waipuka-Bain (Ngāti Kahungunu me Rangitāne ki Wairarapa, Ngai Tara, Ngāti Ira, Ngāi Tūmapūhia-ā-Rangi) is a policy specialist, strategic advisor, and education leader specialising in Te Tiriti integration, mātauranga Māori, and Māori health. Her two-decade career spans English and Māori immersion education, leading iwi operations in Treaty settlements, and shaping policy across public and NGO sectors. A champion for systemic transformation, she integrates Te Ao Māori into social justice frameworks and views anti-racism as an active verb.
Leah’s executive background includes serving as Acting CE of the Public Health Association, contributing to the establishment of Te Aka Whai Ora, and analysing Mana Wāhine claims. She is the Director of Kōpū Consulting Ltd, an executive member of STIR, dedicated to decolonisation and governance reform, her work bridges high-level advisory with flax-roots advocacy.
Júlio César Pereira
Julio Pereira is an Associate Professor of Statistics at the Federal University of São Carlos, Brazil, with nearly two decades dedicated to applying statistical methods across a range of research fields.
Working in multidisciplinary environments has been a consistent part of his career, allowing him to closely engage with professionals from various fields and contribute to a diverse range of projects. This involvement includes advising on data analysis, conducting statistical analyses, reporting findings, delivering presentations, and co-authoring research papers for publication.
His professional journey has included enriching experiences abroad, such as sabbaticals in the United Kingdom and Portugal. During his time at Massey University in Aotearoa New Zealand, he contributed to a research initiative aimed to understand the relationship between food sovereignty and people with disabilities in Aotearoa.
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Denis Came-Friar
Denis is a Pākehā New Zealander, born in Pōneke but has shifted around the North Island. Being expelled from Matamata College at 15, led to a wide ranging and rewarding career with everything from grave digger to interior decorator to B.Ed with primary/secondary teaching and self employment as author, artist, photographer and many other things in-between.
He has won several art awards for painting, multiple exhibitions, and has been a finalist twice in the NZ Tourism Awards. One of his paintings was leased to Prime Minister, Helen Clark’s Office in Parliament for two terms. His 12,000 plus medium format film transparencies have been accepted into The National Library of New Zealand as part of the National Photography Collection.
Tracy Karanui-Golf
Tracy Karanui-Golf (Te Rarawa, Ngāti Kuri) is dedicated to tangata Māori, speech-language therapy, and advancing Te Tiriti alignment across health, justice, and higher education. As a therapist, she empowers whānau by helping them understand their communication profiles and promoting equitable access.
In the legal realm, she serves as a Court Appointed Communication Assistant to ensure Te Tiriti alignment within justice spaces. She also champions diversity and cultural competence as Kaiākiaki Māori (Māori advisor) for Massey University's Speech-Language Therapy Programme.
Holding a Postgraduate Diploma in Bicultural Supervision, Tracy is currently studying Māori Law and Philosophy at Te Wānanga o Raukawa. Her transformative contributions to culturally responsive therapy earned her the New Zealand Speech-Language Therapy Association's inaugural Cultural Award for Rangatiratanga.
Erina Korohina
Ki te taha o tōku matua
Ko Maungakeke te maunga
Ko Orutua te awa
Ko Horouta te waka
Ko Ngāti Porou te Iwi
Ki te taha o tōku whaea
Ko Llantrisant te maunga
Ko Ely, ko Clyde, ko Bann ngā awa
Ko Phillip Laing, ko Pleiades ngā waka
Ko Wīwī, ko Wīra, ko Kotemana, ko Irihi ngā iwi
Ko Erina Korohina tōku ingoa.
Erina has been a public health practitioner since graduating with a BSc in Human Nutrition in 2006. She spent nine years in Tai Tokerau supporting workforce development for Māori nutrition and physical activity kaimahi alongside grassroots community programmes. A two-time recipient of the Heart Foundation Māori Cardiovascular Fellowship (2018 and 2020), she joined a leadership team in 2021 to design an integrated initiative for Māori heart health outcomes. She is now the principal investigator for this programme, Te Ara Poutama | Kaupapa Māori heart health research, which is co-funded by Pūtahi Manawa – Centre for Research Excellence and the Heart Foundation.
Outside of work, she returns to Tairāwhiti to connect with whānau and whenua, studying sustainable living systems like maramataka to help her whānau redevelop their papakāinga.