Harkness Fellows report their findings

17 June 2006

MEDIA RELEASE

Harkness Fellows report their findings

2004-2005 Harkness Fellows in Health Care Policy Dr Marie Bismark and Dr Elana Taipapaki Curtis report their findings at a series of public forums this month. The Harkness Fellowships in Health Care Policy, funded by New York-based private foundation The Commonwealth Fund (www.cmwf.org) and administered in New Zealand by Fulbright New Zealand, provide a unique opportunity for mid-career health services researchers and practitioners to spend up to 12 months in the United States, conducting original research and working with leading U.S. health policy experts.

Dr Marie Bismark, now a senior solicitor with Buddle Findlay in Wellington, spent her Harkness Fellowship based at Harvard University’s School of Public Health. She completed a comparative analysis of no-fault compensation in New Zealand and medical malpractice litigation in the US, the findings of which were published in American journal Health Affairs (www.healthaffairs.org) earlier this year.

Dr Elana Taipapaki Curtis, currently a senior lecturer at the University of Auckland’s Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, was based at the University of California’s Division of Internal Medicine, where she undertook an analysis of ethnic disparities in breast cancer mortality and survival.

Sir Paul Reeves, Chairman of the Harkness Fellowships’ New Zealand Selection Committee, and Dr Karen Poutasi, Harkness Fellowships Representative for New Zealand, will chair the presentations in Auckland, Wellington and Dunedin this month, giving and introduction to the Harkness Fellowships programme. Applications for 2007-2008 Fellowships close 1 September.

See www.fulbright.org.nz for more information.

HARKNESS FELLOWSHIPS IN HEALTH CARE POLICY SEMINARS

Wellington – 12:30pm–1:30pm, Wednesday 19th July 2006
Room GB LT2, Old Government Buildings, Victoria University of Wellington Pipitea Campus

Auckland – 12:30pm–1:30pm, Tuesday 25th July 2006
Room 220, Population Health Complex, University of Auckland Tamaki Campus

Dunedin – 12:30pm–1:30pm, Wednesday 26th July 2006
Barnett Lecture Theatre, Dunedin Hospital

ENDS

www.fulbright.org.nz

© Scoop Media