Rate My Professor Kura Lacey

Dr Kura Lacey (Te Arawa iwi, Ngāti Whakaue hapū; Ngāruahine iwi, Okahu/Inuawai hapū) is a Senior Lecturer in Hauora Māori (Pūkenga Matua) at the Kōhatu Centre for Hauora Māori, Faculty of Medicine, Health Sciences Division, University of Otago, Dunedin. She grew up in Rotorua and Hāwera and holds a Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) from the University of Otago. Following graduation, she has primarily worked in academia at the University of Otago, now in her dental public health training programme at the Faculty of Dentistry. As the Faculty of Dentistry's Hauora Māori lead, she teaches dental public health papers and develops the Hauora Māori curriculum. She collaborates with the Sir John Walsh Research Institute on dental epidemiology and public health and contributes to the New Zealand Deprivation Index (NZDep).

Lacey's research focuses on oral health policy, oral health inequities, oral health systems, and growing the Māori oral health workforce. Key publications include 'Oral health of children in Aotearoa New Zealand—time for change' (2022, Records of the Auckland Museum, co-authored with Dorothy H. Boyd, Susan M. Moffat, Lyndie A. Foster Page), 'Why te Tiriti o Waitangi needs to underpin the oral health system: using evidence from the New Zealand Oral Health Survey' (2021, New Zealand Dental Journal, co-authored with W. Murray Thomson, Peter Crampton, Esther Willing), and contributions to 'Acceptability of “The Hui Process” at the Faculty of Dentistry, University of Otago' (New Zealand Medical Journal). An executive member of Te Ao Mārama, the Aotearoa Māori Dental Association, she maintains strong ties with Māori dentists and health providers. In 2022, she received the University of Otago 20Twenties Young Alumni Award for delivering equitable access to oral health services. Her involvement spans the Oral Health National Clinical Network and research funded by the New Zealand Dental Association and Ministry of Health, advocating for Māori oral health equity through policy and strategy.