Rate My Professor Malama Tafuna'i

Dr Malama Tafuna’i is a Senior Professional Practice Fellow at Va’a o Tautai – Centre for Pacific Health within the Division of Health Sciences at the University of Otago. A New Zealand-trained general practitioner holding Fellowships of the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners (FRNZCGP, RNZCGP), she is an Otago alumna who earned her MBChB in 1995, Postgraduate Diploma in Obstetrics and Medical Gynaecology in 1998, Master of Medical Science in 2019, and PhD in 2023 from the University of Otago. Her doctoral research, detailed in the thesis "Evaluating the burden of chronic kidney disease amongst Samoans in Samoa and Samoans resident in Auckland, New Zealand," examined the epidemiology of chronic kidney disease using both qualitative and quantitative methods in Samoan populations. Of Samoan, Fijian, and Kiribati descent, Tafuna’i has extensive clinical experience in hospital systems and primary care across urban and rural communities in New Zealand and Samoa.

Tafuna’i transitioned into medical education in 2015 with the National University of Samoa School of Medicine and now leads the development of the Pacific Health curriculum at Otago Medical School, aligning it with the Dunedin School of Medicine framework and extending it to the Wellington and Christchurch campuses. Her contributions include eLearning resources and Pacific-specific problem-based clinical scenarios utilizing the Fonofale Health model. Her academic interests span primary care, public health, Pacific health, health systems, health policy, medical education, and health economics, with a commitment to applying findings to improve health services and outcomes in Pacific Island nations such as Samoa. Key publications include "Kidney failure in Samoa" (2020), "The prevalence of chronic kidney disease in Samoans living in Auckland, New Zealand" (Nephrology, 2022), "Results of a community-based screening programme for chronic kidney disease and associated risk factors in a Samoan cohort" (BMJ Open, 2022), and "A path to reduce chronic kidney disease burden in Samoa" (Nature Reviews Nephrology, 2026). She received a Health Research Council of New Zealand Pacific Research Scholarship and continues practicing primary care while advancing into public health research.