Faʻafetai Sopoaga

CNZM
Sopoaga in 2022
Born
Samoa
Alma materUniversity of Otago
Scientific career
InstitutionsUniversity of Otago
Thesis

Faumuinā Faʻafetai Sopoaga CNZM is a Samoan-New Zealand academic specialising in Pacific health, Pacific workforce development, Pacific students, and Pacific communities. She is a professor at the Dunedin School of Medicine at the University of Otago, Dunedin.[1] When she was appointed, she became the first Pacific woman medical doctor to be appointed in a professorial role at any university in Australia or New Zealand, and the first Pacific woman to be appointed a professor at the University of Otago.[2]

Biography

Sopoaga is from Fagaloa in Samoa.[2] Her parents, Nomeneta and Lili Sopoaga, were church ministers. In 1984, Sopoaga studied on a government scholarship at Timaru Girls' High School, and then moved to Dunedin to study medicine. She intended to return to Samoa after completing her studies, however due to an underlying health issue, Sopoaga was advised to reside in New Zealand permanently rather than return to Samoa.[3] She completed a PhD in 2021 with a thesis titled "Folauga" - Pacific health, well-being and success in higher education.[4]

Sopoaga serves as Health Advisor for the New Zealand High Commission in Samoa and has assisted in the establishment of a medical school, based at the National University of Samoa.[3][5]

Recognition

In 2018, Sopoaga received a Tertiary Teaching Excellence Award from Ako Aotearoa for "sustained excellence in tertiary teaching and endorsement for excellence in supporting Pacific learners"; she also received the Prime Minister's Supreme Award for Tertiary Teaching Excellence.[6]

In the 2022 New Year Honours, Sopoaga was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to Pacific health and tertiary education.[7]

References

  1. ↑ "Department of Preventive and Social Medicine staff profiles". www.otago.ac.nz. Retrieved 25 December 2020.
  2. 1 2 "Samoan academic makes history at NZ's Otago University". RNZ. 10 December 2020. Retrieved 25 December 2020.
  3. 1 2 Husband, Dale (20 October 2018). "Faʻafetai Sopoaga: Connecting communities in Dunedin". E-Tangata. Retrieved 25 December 2020.
  4. ↑ Sopoaga, Faafetai (2021). "Folauga" - Pacific health, well-being and success in higher education (Doctoral thesis). OUR Archive, University of Otago. hdl:10523/12062.
  5. ↑ "Otago University donates textbooks to N.U.S." Samoa Observer. Retrieved 25 December 2020.
  6. ↑ "Faumuina Associate Professor Faʻafetai Sopoaga". ako.ac.nz. Retrieved 25 December 2020.
  7. ↑ "New Year Honours: the full list of 2022". New Zealand Herald. 31 December 2021. Retrieved 31 December 2021.


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