Our Management Team

Peter Browett

Peter Browett

Director - Translation

Peter is a consultant haematologist at Auckland City Hospital and Professor of Pathology in the Department of Molecular Medicine and Pathology, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland – representing in one person Te Aka;s goal of connecting research with clinical practice.

He is a graduate of the University of Otago Medical School, and after postgraduate training in clinical and laboratory haematology in Auckland, he was a Wellcome – HRC research fellow in the Department of Haematology, Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, London. Peter is involved in several co-operative group and investigator-initiated studies in blood disorders and stem cell transplantation.

He is co-director of our Leukaemia and Blood Cancer Research Unit, with interests in blood cancer genomics, biomarkers in leukaemia, and the monitoring of measurable residual disease. Peter is clinical director of the Auckland Regional Tissue Bank, and Grafton Clinical Genomics.

George Laking

George Laking

Director - Manutaki Haumanu Māori

George’s iwi affiliation is Te Whakatōhea, and he studied medicine in Dunedin and Wellington.  He completed his postgraduate work in Britain where he wrote his MD on tumour perfusion and his PhD on the economics of diagnosis.  Since 2007 he has worked as a Medical Oncologist in Auckland, with a focus area of sarcoma.  He is the Māori Health Lead at Te Pūriri o Te Ora Northern Regional Cancer and Blood Service.

At the University of Auckland, George is undertaking a Cancer Equity project that seeks to adopt a new model of community-based cancer care in the Northern Region, as well as a wide-scale project investigating the adverse effects of the recent Cyclone Gabrielle. 

George is a Medical Director of the Cancer Society of New Zealand and a member of their National Board., and he is involved in Māori Health as a board member of Hei Āhuru Mōwai Maori Cancer Leadership Aotearoa.

Megan Putterill

Megan Putterill

Director – Strategy

Megan is the Strategic Development Manager for Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences (FMHS). Coming from a tech-transfer background, Megan is a highly experienced and insightful connector of people and organisations with complementary goals and capabilities.

Her key responsibility is to manage the relationship the University has with the health sector primarily focussed on DHBs in the Northern Region This is embodied by the Auckland Academic Health Alliance (AAHA) partnership which is underpinned by a core set of principles to encourage our institutions to work within a framework of inter-institutional collaboration with a focus on research, strengthening, teaching and education (workforce development) and service.

 

Andrew Shelling

Andrew Shelling

Director – Research

In 2023, Andrew finished an 11-year stint as Associate Dean (Research) at the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, and he remains head of the Medical Genetics Research Group. His research is primarily interested in understanding the molecular changes that occur during the development of genetic disorders, focusing on breast and ovarian cancer, and reproductive disorders.

Andrew began at Otago University with a degree in Physical Education and PhD in Biochemistry. He spent three years in Oxford, UK, as a Nuffield Medical Fellow, studying the genetics of ovarian cancer, before being appointed to Auckland University as a Lecturer in 1996, eventually becoming Professor in 2015.

Outside of the University of Auckland, he is a board member of Breast Cancer Cure, and Chair of the Gynaecological Oncology Special Interest Group of the New Zealand Society of Oncology.