Dianne Sika-Paotonu | |
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Born | New Zealand |
Alma mater | Victoria University of Wellington |
Occupation | Immunologist |
Scientific career | |
Thesis | Increasing the potency of dendritic cell based vaccines for the treatment of cancer (2014) |
Doctoral advisor | Franca Ronchese, Ian F Hermans |
Dianne Sika-Paotonu is a New Zealand immunologist, biomedical scientist and academic in the Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine and Associate Dean (Pacific) at the University of Otago Wellington. She is of Tongan descent and is the first Pasifika biomedical scientist to receive the Cranwell Medal for science communication in 2020 and the 2022 Prime Minister's Science Communicator of the Year prize.
Sika-Paotonu was born in New Zealand to Tongan parents who emigrated to New Zealand from Tonga in the 1960s. She has one brother. [1] She attended Cannons Creek Primary School, the Wellington Seventh Day Adventist school and Wellington Girls' College. [1] [2] She studied at Victoria University of Wellington where she gained a BSc in physiology in 2001, a Bachelor of Biomedical Science in molecular pathology in 2003, a Masters in Biomedical Science in 2007 and a PhD. [2] Her PhD thesis, completed in 2014, was titled Increasing the potency of dendritic cell based vaccines for the treatment of cancer. [3]
Sika-Paotonu completed her PhD while working on cancer vaccines at the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research in Wellington. [1] From her work on vaccines she moved into investigating cancer diagnosis and the early detection of cancer. [1] She has been researching the treatment of rheumatic fever, in particular long–lasting penicillin [1] and is the scientific lead of the Rheumatic Fever and Penicillin Research Programme. [4] [5] She has raised issues of concern about missed diagnoses of rheumatic fever during the COVID-19 pandemic. [6]
Her research into the early detection of cancer using a blood test was funded by a Sir Thomas Davis Te Patu Kite Rangi Ariki Fellowship in 2018. [7] In 2020 she received a Fulbright Scholarship to travel to Harvard University and the University of Oklahoma to research rheumatic fever, rheumatic heart disease and early detection of cancer. [1] [8]
Her work extends into health equity issues for Pasifika and Māori communities and mentoring Pasifika students and researchers. [1] [4]
Sika-Paotonu is a senior lecturer in the Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine and Associate Dean (Pacific) at the University of Otago, Wellington. [9] She is a Health Research Council Pacific Emerging Research Fellow. [4] [10]
Sika-Paotonu is married to Reno Paotonu and they have one daughter. [1]
Group A streptococcal infections are a number of infections with Streptococcus pyogenes, a group A streptococcus (GAS). S. pyogenes is a species of beta-hemolytic Gram-positive bacteria that is responsible for a wide range of infections that are mostly common and fairly mild. If the bacteria enter the bloodstream an infection can become severe and life-threatening, and is called an invasive GAS (iGAS).
Rheumatic fever (RF) is an inflammatory disease that can involve the heart, joints, skin, and brain. The disease typically develops two to four weeks after a streptococcal throat infection. Signs and symptoms include fever, multiple painful joints, involuntary muscle movements, and occasionally a characteristic non-itchy rash known as erythema marginatum. The heart is involved in about half of the cases. Damage to the heart valves, known as rheumatic heart disease (RHD), usually occurs after repeated attacks but can sometimes occur after one. The damaged valves may result in heart failure, atrial fibrillation and infection of the valves.
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