Heather was made a Member of the Order of New Zealand in May 2023 in recognition of her contribution to Māori, health and education. Her citation read
Dr Heather Came-Friar has advocated for social and racial justice and Te Tiriti o Waitangi recognition throughout her professional career in the health sector, non-governmental organisations, and academia.
Dr Came-Friar is an Associate Professor at the Department of Public Health at Auckland University of Technology (AUT). She founded and has been co-chair of STIR: Stop Institutional Racism since 2013. She has convened various think tanks and symposiums for anti-racism, and co-convened Anti-Racism Master Classes. She has led initiatives such as Te Tiriti Futures – Anti-Racism Webinar Series (Decol2020 and Decol2022). She has a decades long involvement with the Pākehā Tiriti workers movement, including an association with Tāmaki Tiriti Workers. In 2020 she co-published ‘Critical Tiriti Analysis’, a new methodology to assess Te Tiriti compliance, which is being widely used in the health, public and research sectors. She has been involved with the New Zealand Public Health Association since 1995 in various roles, including acting Co-President and member of the National Executive, and founder and Chair of the AUT Branch since 2020. She chaired the Parliamentary Review of the National Cervical Screening Programme. Dr Came-Friar has been a Fellow of the Health Promotion Forum since 2014.
University of Otago Alumni network interviewed Heather about her career and the University of Waikato Alumni network also wrote a piece.