Aotearoa ASM 2025 programme

Here's the programme for Days 1 - 3 of the Aotearoa ASM Monday 9 - Wednesday 11 June.
Where purple session title is linked, click to read full blurbs and bios for the session. We'll keep adding these as we receive them.

Pre-ASM workshops will be held on Sunday 8 June, please see links to each at the bottom of this page.

Day 1 | Monday 9 June, 2025 | Ōtākou Marae

10.00amBuses depart from Distinction Hotel Dunedin to Ōtākou Marae
11.00am
Pōwhiri
12.00pm
Lunch
12.30pmPresentation of RANZCOG Distinguished Service Medal 2024 - Dr Leigh Duncan
12.45pm








Day 1 | Cultural competence, hauora Māori and cultural safety to support Māori health equity and outcomes

Introduction of speakers and concepts framing our day (cultural competence, hauora Māori and cultural safety - as defined by MCNZ) Bailey Parata Thomas and Dr Tania Huria

The importance of whakapapa -  a Sexual Wellbeing Aotearoa case study
Dr Tania Huria, Director of Hauora Māori and Equity, Sexual Wellbeing Aotearoa

Improving access to abortion care in Kaitaia - a Midwifery led Early Medical Abortion (EMA) service
Shelley Tweedie, Midwife Manager, Kaitaia Hospital

Health equity, hauora Māori and kaupapa Māori research
Dr Tania Slater, Senior Research Fellow, Te Tātai Hauora o Hine | National Centre for Women’s Health Research Aotearoa, Victoria University of Wellington

3.15pmAfternoon tea
3.30pmDay 1 | Cultural competence, hauora Māori and cultural safety to support Māori health equity and outcomes continues

Kotahi Mano Kāika, Kotahi Mano Wawata: Livin’ the Dream!
Paulette Tamati-Elliffe, Manager, Kotahi Mano Kāika

Pulling it all together: what might you apply in your context/setting, unanswered pātai
Bailey Parata Thomas and Dr Tania Huria
5.00pm
Close of Day 1
5.10pmBuses depart from Ōtākou Marae returning to Distinction Hotel Dunedin

Day 2 | Tuesday 10 June, 2025 | Dunedin Centre

8.00 amArrival tea and coffee in our exhibition space
8.30 am
Opening of Day 2
9.00 amSession 1 | Keynote | Professor Sue Walker | Tackling preeclampsia in 2025: the new frontier
Professor Sue Walker
Head of Department, Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Newborn Health, The University of Melbourne
Co-Director Mercy Perinatal, Mercy Hospital for Women

When town meets country - closing the (geographical) gap
9.40amSession 2 | Plenary | When town meets country - closing the (geographical) gap

Delivered safely: an audit of emergency obstetric helicopter transfers and outcomes in the lower South Island
of New Zealand
Dave Anderson, Otago Southern Rescue Helicopter and Dr Celia Devenish, O&G, Te Whatu Ora - Southern
(30 mins)

Te waka wahine hauora - the woman's health bus
Dr Helen Paterson, Acting Head, Department of Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Women's Health Oranga Wāhine in the Dunedin School of Medicine
(15 mins)

Free communications speaker
(15 mins)

Panel discussion and Q&A with the audience
11.00amMorning tea
11.30amSession 3 | Concurrent | When town meets country - closing the (geographical) gap
Please click on each purple concurrent title to read more.

Three 80 minute concurrent sessions offering more in-depth content.
Maternity care reaching our communities

Reducing preventable stillbirth: a solution focused on equity and access
Professor Sue Walker, Head of Department, Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Newborn Health, University of Melbourne

How can we utilise angiogenic biomarker testing (sFlt-1/PlGF) to improve care for mothers with hypertension in pregnancy?
Dr Ruth Hughes, Obstetric Physician, University of Otago - Christchurch


Early pregnancy ultrasound by midwives – improving access for rural whānau
Shelley Tweedie, Midwife Manager, Kaitaia Hospital
Working towards elimination of cervical cancer for all

Turning the tide: eliminating cervical cancer
Professor Bev Lawton and Dr Tania Slater, Te Tātai Hauora O Hine | National Centre For Women’s Health Research Aotearoa

Breaking down barriers to colposcopy: community co-located colposcopy clinics
Dr Judy Ormandy, Senior Clinical Lecturer, University of Otago - Wellington

Te waka wahine hauora - the woman's health bus, the next stage in the story
Dr Helen Paterson, Acting Head, Department of O&G, Dunedin School of Medicine
Gynaecology care reaching our communities

LARC training - making any door the right door
Emma Macfarlane, Nurse Practitioner, Dunedin South Medical Centre

Declining to decline - collaboration between Southland Women's Health and Wellsouth PHN
Dr Andy Shute, GP Liaison, Southern Wellsouth

Engaging Pasifika communities in the South. What's so special?
Dr Letava Tafunai, Senior Clinical Advisor Pasifika, Wellsouth Primary Health Network

Free communications | Know Your Period: a co-designed consumer resource about abnormal uterine bleeding
Dr Parimala Kanagasabai & Associate Professor Sara Filoche, University of Otago, Wellington


12.50pmLunch (Poster Discussion - Group 1)

Getting a foot in the door - access for all
1.50 pmSession 4 | Plenary | Getting a foot in the door - access for all

Beyond law reform: what does abortion access really mean in 2025?
Dr Rachel Rapkin, Clinical Lead, Te Mahoe Unit
(15 mins)

Opening the door to prevention - Familial Breast and Ovarian Cancer
Dr Simone Petrich, Consultant, Te Whatu Ora - Southern
(15 mins)

Nothing about us, without us: disrupting ableism during pregnancy and childbirth
Dr Robbie Francis Watene, Disabled Research Lead, Donald Beasley Institute
(15 mins)

Free communications: The availability of effective emergency contraception in Aotearoa New Zealand: a qualitative study
Emma McKay, Medical Student, University of Otago, Christchurch
(15 mins)

Panel discussion and Q&A with the audience
3.10 pmAfternoon Tea (Poster Discussion - Group 2)
3.40 pmSession 5 | Concurrent | Getting a foot in the door - access for all
Please click on each purple concurrent title to read more.

Three 80 minute concurrent sessions offering more in-depth content.
Access to abortion

Second trimester abortion access: addressing our patients' needs
Dr Rachel Rapkin, Clinical Lead, Te Mahoe Unit

Access to feticide integral to abortion care
Dr Richard Carpenter, Clinical Lead, Abortion Services, Nelson-Marlborough District

Teamwork makes the dream work: establishing an abortion service in a rural setting
Dr Coleen Caldwell, Clinical Lecturer, University of Otago, Medical Officer, Christchurch Women's Hospital

Abortion is a human right and health issue: disabled people’s experiences of access to abortion services in Aotearoa
Dr Robbie Francis Watene, Disabled Research Lead, Donald Beasley Institute

To v or not to vNotes, that is the question

Natural Orifice Transluminal Endoscopic (NOTES) Techniques in Gynaecology - vNOTES a 'new' hysterectomy technique - but what and why? led by Dr Elliot Mackenzie, Gynaecologist, Te Whatu Ora - Southern

Access to fertility care

Navigating the road to fertility care in Aotearoa
Dr Natalie Burger, Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility Specialist, Fertility Associates, Dunedin - Queenstown

Higher body mass index (BMI) is not associated with a lower IVF birth rate in an Aotearoa population - negating the threshold for public funding
Dr Olivia Stuart, Fertility Subspecialist, Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, Fertility Associates, Birthright, Auckland and Whangārei 

Beyond the birthing parent: including non-birthing parents in fertility treatment and beyond
Caren August, Fertility Counsellor, Hamilton - Tauranga


5.00 pmFinal housekeeping information
5.10 pm
Close of Day 2
6.30 pmBuses depart for ASM Dinner from Distinction Hotel Dunedin to Larnach Castle
7.00 pm ASM Dinner at Larnach Castle

Day 3 | Wednesday 11 June, 2025 | Dunedin Centre

8.00 amArrival tea and coffee in our exhibition space
8.30am
Opening of Day 3

Beneath the surface - the psychology of harm
8.35amSession 6 | Keynote | Associate Professor Jo Shapiro | When “walking it off” is not a sustainable strategy: peer support to mitigate the emotional toll of trauma experienced by physicians
Associate Professor Jo Shapiro, Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Harvard Medical School
Founder, Centre for Professionalism and Peer Support, Brigham and Women's Hospital
9.15amSession 7 | Plenary | Beneath the surface - the psychology of harm

Understanding misogyny in obstetrics and gynaecology in Aotearoa New Zealand
Dr Jackie Smalldridge
(15 mins)

Research into recruitment and retention of Māori obstetricians and gynaecologists
Dr Leigh Duncan and Dr Ange Beard, He Hono Wāhine
(15 mins)

What happens when a doctor discloses and how to decide when to disclose
Dr Wayne de Beer, Medical Adviser / Psychiatrist, Medical Council New Zealand
(15 mins)

Free communications speaker: Pregnant people and suicide in the perinatal period | Māku te ra e tō ana; kei a koe te urunga ake o te rā Let mine be the setting sun; yours is the dawning of a new day
Dr Pauline Dawson, Practising Midwife and Senior Lecturer, Dunedin School of Medicine and  Associate Professor Dr Liza Edmonds (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Whātua), Te Whatu Ora and Te Tātai Hauora o Hine 
(15 mins)

Panel discussion and Q&A with the audience
10.35amHousekeeping - Best Poster Prizes (Poster Discussion - Group 3)
10.40amMorning Tea
11.10amSession 8 | Concurrent | Beneath the surface - the psychology of harm

Two 80 minute concurrent sessions offering more in-depth content.

Vicarious trauma for practitioners

A deeper dive into peers helping physicians heal from vicarious trauma
Associate Professor Jo Shapiro, Harvard Medical School, Founder of Centre for Professionalism and Peer Support, Brigham and Women's Hospital
Birth trauma 

Trauma and the delivery room
Dr Charlie Mentzel, Psychiatrist, Senior Lecturer, Otago Medical School

The Birth Afterthoughts Clinic - the first two years
Heidi Goebbels and Julie Edlin, Clinical Midwife Specialists, Birth Afterthoughts Clinic, Christchurch Women's Hospital

What's happening in Australia: RANZCOG's response and ongoing actions
Associate Professor Jared Watts, Board Director RANZCOG, Head of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Kimberley WA

12.30pm
Lunch (Poster Discussion - Group 4)

Ngā kōrero uaua - complex conversations
1.30pmSession 9 | Whole group session | Ngā kōrero uaua - complex conversations

Multicultural awareness
Munisha Singh, Kym Makanesi and Zarghona Lafraie, Worldwide Mosaic

3.10pmAfternoon Tea
Your last opportunity to visit with our ASM exhibitors and vote for prizes                                                                    
3.40pmSession 10 | Whole group session | Ngā kōrero uaua - complex conversations

Informed consent in clinical practice 
Professor Lynley Anderson, Bioethics Centre, University of Otago

4.40pm
Announcement of Best Poster prizes
4.50pm
Wrap up and poroporoaki
5.00pm Close of ASM


Sunday 8 June | Pre-ASM workshops | Dunedin Centre, Mercy Hospital
Please click each link below to read more. In order to register for these workshops use the general registration link and either add them to your ASM registration or you can choose the 'workshop only' option during this registration process.

Aotearoa Trainees' Day
Academics' Group Meeting
vNotes Workshop
Peer support in adverse events training

Saturday 7 June | PVOGS workshop | Hunter Centre, University of Otago

*Please note the FSEP workshop has been cancelled