Cancer National Clinical Network

Dr Myra Ruka (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kuri, Raukawa) is a clinical equity lead, clinical haematologist, cancer researcher. 

Myra has shown leadership in advancing Māori health equity and kaupapa Māori led practices in tertiary healthcare services and cancer research. Through her roles as co-chair of the Health New Zealand Waikato Clinical Equity Leadership, Waikato Clinical Procedures Committee and member of the Board of Clinical Governance, Myra has provided strategic direction and led local and regional service planning efforts, resulting in significant equity gain. 

She co-led the design and implementation of a Kaupapa Māori service at Health New Zealand Waikato working collaboratively with Māori leaders, kaimānaki (patient navigators), patients, whānau (family) and the organisation, to address waitlist inequities in planned care services. 

She serves as member of Hei Āhuru Mōwai and is the Clinical Equity Lead at Te Aho o Te Kahu Cancer Control Agency. Myra’s leadership is also evident in her PhD research project, co-designing and implementing a Māori led Cancer service in collaboration with Health New Zealand Waikato. Her commitment to advancing equity and culturally safe practices in cancer research is further demonstrated through collaboration with her role as equity research advisor for CAR-T cell therapy research at the Malaghan Institute, Wellington.

Chris Jackson is Professor of Oncology at the University of Otago, Dunedin, and a medical oncologist at Dunedin Hospital and Mercy Cancer Care. He specialises in gut cancers and melanoma and is heavily involved in both national and international cancer policy and research.

He was previously the medical director of the Cancer Society of NZ, and his advocacy led to the development of a new national cancer plan, and to the birth of the national cancer agency Te Aho o Te Kahu. He currently chairs the agency’s clinical committee and serves on the advisory board. His work on the medicines gaps analysis eventually led to over $790million in new funding for PHARMAC. He is on the programme board of the International Cancer Benchmarking Project, a co-commissioner on the Lancet Commission on Cancer in Commonwealth Countries and is a founding member of the Common Sense Oncology movement.

Professor Jackson was recently elected as a Director of the Union for International Cancer Control – the peak global cancer policy and advocacy body. He is the first NZ-based director. He is a regular commentator on television, radio, print and on-line media on cancer and health systems-based issues.