MB BS 1995 Melbourne; FRACP 2004

I was born in Hong Kong and went to Melbourne to complete my high school education there. I obtained a scholarship to study Medicine and Surgery at the University of Melbourne. After graduating, I spent some time travelling and had working holidays in Tasmania and New Zealand. Having decided to make New Zealand home, I completed my specialist training in Thoracic and Sleep Medicine in 2004. Following an initial consultancy position in North Shore Hospital, I took up a position as a Respiratory Physician at Waikato Hospital in 2006.

I have interests in a wide range of areas in Respiratory Medicine and hold the portfolios in lung cancers, interventional pulmonology and cystic fibrosis at Waikato Hospital. Trained in 2004 by Professor Noriaki Kurimoto in Japan, the inventor of the Olympus endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS) guide sheath technique, I was the first respiratory physician in New Zealand to become proficient in EBUS. I have been fortunate to lead the adult cystic fibrosis team since 2007 after working with Professor John Wilson at The Alfred, Melbourne. My more recent focus has been in improving lung cancer care in Waikato by collaborating with the dedicated research team at the University of Waikato.

I am also passionate about teaching and hold a role as an honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer in Medicine at the University of Auckland. I have been an examiner for both Auckland Medical School and the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. I was the president of the Asthma Waikato Society from 2007-2010.

Training

• Advanced Respiratory Training at Auckland City Hospital and Waikato Hospital (2001-2004)
• Medical Registrar at Waikato Hospital, Auckland City Hospital and Middlemore Hospital (1999-2001)
• Medical house officer at Launceston General Hospital, Tasmania and Waikato Hospital (1996-1998)

Research and Publications

• Barriers and enablers to early diagnosis of lung cancer in primary healthcare for Māori communities (2021)
• Management of patients with early stage lung cancer – why do some patients not receive treatment with curative intent? (2020)
• IgG4-related disease in lung: a diagnostic challenge (2020)
• Characteristics of lung cancers and accuracy and completeness of registration in the New Zealand Cancer Registry (2018)
• EBUS TBNA for mediastinal lymph node diagnosis in Waikato Hospital (2014)
• Principal investigator and sub-investigator of multiple international clinical trials in treatment for cystic fibrosis, COPD, bronchiectasis and influenza at Waikato Hospital Site (2007-2018)
• Audits of oxygen prescribing practices in New Zealand hospitals (2006, 2014)
• The clinical utility of incremental shuttle walk testing in preoperative assessment for lung resection (2004)

Memberships

• Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians
• Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand
• European Respiratory Society

Areas of Expertise

• Investigations of chronic cough and breathlessness
• Suspected lung cancer
• Airway diseases including asthma, COPD and bronchiectasis
• Diagnosis and therapeutic bronchoscopy, linear and radial EBUS
• Cystic fibrosis

Respiratory Physician

Female / Wāhine

19 March 1997

Internal Medicine