Kirsten Finucane | |
---|---|
Awards | Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | Epsom Girls' Grammar School , University of Auckland |
Academic work | |
Institutions | Auckland District Health Board |
Annabel Kirsten Finucane CNZM ONZM is a New Zealand pediatric heart surgeon,and was Chief Surgeon of the Paediatric and Congenital Cardiac Service at Starship Hospital in Auckland for twenty years. In 2009 Finucane was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to medicine,in particular paediatric heart surgery. In 2021 Finucane was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to health,particularly paediatric heart surgery.
Finucane was educated at Epsom Girls Grammar School,and then completed a medical degree at the University of Auckland. [1] She trained in New Zealand and the UK. [2] Finucane didn't initially intend to study medicine,and then when she did,did not intend to be a paediatric surgeon. She was advised by other surgeons that it would not be possible to have a family and work as a surgeon,and additionally she used to faint at the sight of blood. [3] During three months spent working in Nepal she realised she no longer fainted,and was able to train as a pediatric surgeon at Green Lane Hospital. [4]
Finucane was Chief Surgeon of the Paediatric and Congenital Cardiac Service at Starship Hospital in Auckland for almost 20 years,retiring in 2024. [5] [2] [4] She performed over 7500 surgeries in the course of her career. [6] During her tenure,the hospital's "heart library",a collection of stored hearts used for training and research,was found to have hearts that had been obtained without proper parental consent. [7] Finucane attributed the problem to both changes in public expectations around consent since the collection began,and to under resourced medical staff working under pressure. [7] [8]
Finucane helped establish the Hearts 4 Kids Trust in 2015. The trust coordinates and funds annual team visits to Fiji to provide heart surgery for babies and children from Samoa,Vanuatu,Fiji,Tuvalu,and Kiribati. [5] The medical staff are volunteers who spend a week of their leave to the scheme. [9] [6]
In the 2009 Queen's Birthday Honours,Finucane was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to medicine,in particular paediatric heart surgery. [10]
In the 2021 New Year Honours Finucane was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to health,particularly paediatric heart surgery. [5] In 2023 Finucane was awarded the Distinguished Alumna Award by the University of Auckland.
Finucane is married with three children. [7]
Starship Children's Hospital is a public children's hospital in Auckland, New Zealand. Opened on 18 November 1991, it was one of the first purpose-built children's hospitals in New Zealand, and is the largest such facility in the country. Although a separate facility, it is located on the same grounds as the Auckland City Hospital in Grafton, Auckland, and is adjacent to the Auckland Medical School.
Diana Rosemary Lennon was a New Zealand academic and paediatrician, specialising in infectious diseases, and was a full professor at the University of Auckland.
Sir Collin Fonotau Tukuitonga is a Niuean-born New Zealand doctor, public health academic, public policy expert and advocate for reducing health inequalities of Māori and Pasifika people. He has held several positions in public health and government in New Zealand and internationally.
Lynette Joy Tippett is a New Zealand professor of psychology at the University of Auckland, specialising in neurodegenerative diseases.
Green Lane Hospital in Auckland, New Zealand was a hospital with a national and international reputation for cardiology and cardiothoracic surgery, led by Douglas Robb and Brian Barratt-Boyes. The original hospital, the Costley Home for the Aged Poor, opened in 1890. It was renamed the Auckland Infirmary in 1924 and then Green Lane Hospital in 1942 when it became a general hospital. The hospital's name was sometimes misspelt as Greenlane Hospital. In 2003 it became the Greenlane Clinical Centre when many of the services were moved to Auckland City Hospital.
Eva Ruth Seelye was a New Zealand anaesthetist in the cardiothoracic surgical unit at Green Lane Hospital, Auckland from 1962 to 1985.
Janet Lynn Fanslow is a New Zealand academic, and is a full professor at the University of Auckland, specialising in researching the prevention, prevalence and consequences of family violence.
Susan Mary Bennett Morton is a New Zealand epidemiologist, and is a full professor of public health at the University of Technology Sydney, specialising in longitudinal studies of public health. In 2019, Morton was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to epidemiology and public health research.
Emma Louise Scotter is a New Zealand academic neuropharmacologist, and is a senior lecturer at the University of Auckland, and head of the university's Centre for Brain Research. In 2024 she was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to Motor Neuron Disease research.
Louise Frances Basford Nicholson is a New Zealand neuroscientist, and is professor emerita at the University of Auckland, specialising in molecular mechanisms common to neurodegenerative diseases. In 2021, Nicholson was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to neuroscience and education.
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Jane Elizabeth Skeen is a New Zealand paediatric oncologist who worked at Starship Blood and Cancer Centre at Starship Children’s Hospital in Auckland. In 2023, Skeen was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to children with cancer. She is an honorary life member of the Child Cancer Foundation, and a life member of the Australia and New Zealand Children's Haematology and Oncology Group.
Miriam Edna Saphiranée Gibson is a New Zealand lesbian activist, poet, artist and psychologist. Saphira founded New Zealand's only museum of lesbian culture, The Charlotte Museum. Saphira was awarded a New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal, a New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal, and in 2022 was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the LGBTQIA+ community.
Virginia Hope is a New Zealand public health specialist, researcher and public sector governance expert. In 2014 Hope was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to health.
Florence Joyce Cowan is a New Zealand midwife and educator, and an authority on pre-eclampsia. She was co-founder and director of the charity NZ Action on Pre-eclampsia, and introduced the GAP programme to monitor the growth of small babies. In 2023 Cowan was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to midwifery, after a more than fifty year career contributing to the profession.
Anne Bardsley is a New Zealand–American academic, and is a senior research fellow at the Centre for Informed Futures at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. In 2020 Bardsley was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to science and the state.
Tupou Here Tamata Manapori is a Cook Island New Zealand teacher and Cook Islands Māori language advocate. In 1999, Manapori was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to local-body and community affairs. In 2009, she was awarded a Queen's Service Medal for services to the Pacific Islands community. In 2021 the Ministry for Pacific Peoples awarded her a Cook Islands Language Champion award.
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