Claire completed a BCom(Hons)/LLB at the University of Auckland.  She is qualified as a Chartered Accountant and is an enrolled barrister and solicitor.  After graduating Claire spent a few years working in the tax division of Deloitte before moving to New Zealand Guardian Trust where she worked for over 13 years, initially as part of the tax team and then taking responsibility for the charities register compliance work for more than 400 charitable trusts.

Claire has been with Management Accountants since 2016.  There she is primarily responsible for the company compliance and administration work for client companies, including incorporating and ceasing companies, director changes, share transfers, ensuring company registers and resolutions are up to date, and filing Annual Returns with the Companies Office.  

On behalf of Management Accountants, Claire looks after the accounting, secretarial and granting administration work for the Whau Mental Health Research Foundation.

Claire is proud to be involved with the work of the Foundation and to assist with managing funds and administering grants to enable the Foundation to provide essential support to researchers working in this very important field.

Sophie has joined the Whau Mental Health Research Foundation to spearhead marketing and fundraising efforts as the Foundation ventures into the next phase of its journey.

She holds a Bachelor of Commerce from Otago University, as well as a Master of Music and Graduate Diploma in Communications. With a varied background spanning corporate, artistic and charitable sectors, her experience includes roles such as Marketing Manager at NZ Opera, running her own marketing consultancy and working in media including radio and television.

Sophie is also an experienced performer, having sung national anthems for All Blacks games, and has shared the stage with the likes of Bill Bailey and The Ten Tenors. Through music, she has raised money for organisations including Pet Refuge and Otago Down Syndrome Association.

Driven by a vision of a society where mental health is prioritised and supported, Sophie is committed to advancing the Foundation’s impact on Aotearoa’s mental health landscape.

Clive trained at the University of Otago Medical School before training as a General Practitioner (MRCGP) then as a Psychiatrist (FRANZCP) and Medical Administrator (FRACMA).

Throughout his career he has been involved in service leadership and clinical governance; including as the Director of Mental Health and Addiction (MH&A) services at Waikato and then Auckland.

He is the Clinical Lead for the National Health Quality and Safety Commission MH&A Quality Improvement Programme, and co-lead for the National Clinical Network for Mental Health and Addiction.

He has interests in the use of data and in quality improvement and a commitment to effective and safe services design, informed by research and clinical, cultural, and lived experience expertise.

Clive has worked clinically across Auckland city and Waikato, in Adult Psychiatry and Psychiatry of Old Age.

Clive says, “good New Zealand based research matters and it’s a pleasure to be part of supporting it”.

Roger Hill has a corporate management background in private and public sectors and Governance experience in the Charitable sector. He has managed businesses and executive teams and has experience in Marketing/Fundraising related projects.

Roger was Director of Advancement at Auckland Grammar School and CEO of Canteen. He spent 10 years in Public Transport as Marketing Manager for Yellow Bus Company and later as Manager -Transport for Infrastructure Auckland where he led the funding process for Britomart Station, Northern Busway and Railway stations and Ferry terminals.

Roger was with NZI Corporation for 10 years as General Manager, Direct Marketing International and AGM-New Zealand Insurance.

His Community involvement includes being a Prison Visitor and Exec Committee member for PARS, a Mentor for Project K and Chair and Trustee for Harbour Sport. Roger was also Chair of Mangawhai Community Opportunity Shop Trust, Board Member of the Mangawhai Museum and a Trustee/advisor for Youth in Transition Charitable Trust in the Rodney district area.

Roger’s motivation for being involved with the Whau Foundation is to support and promote the work of a specialist mental health research funder during a time when New Zealand needs clear evidenced solutions to the issues we have in this crucial field.

Kiri Prentice is a consultant psychiatrist with a background that spans several mental health services in the Auckland region, including Māori, adult community, and maternal mental health. Currently serving as the Deputy Clinical Director for Māori in Mental Health and Addiction Services at Counties Manukau, Kiri previously held the role of Deputy Chief Medical Officer Māori at Te Pātaka Whaioranga | Pharmac.

Kiri was a member of the Expert Advisory Group that advised on the repeal and replacement of the Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment Act) 1992. In 2023, she became a member of Te Whiri Kaha | Māori Clinical Advisory Senate and was honoured with the Pirika Taonga Award by the Royal Australia and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists for her significant contributions to Māori mental health and addiction in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Her interests include Te Taiao (nature), hauora Māori, mental health, Māori philosophy, education, and law. These passions are reflected in her teaching of medical students, psychiatry registrars, and other health professionals, as well as in the educational videos she creates for her YouTube channel and website, Māori Minds.

Kiri says, “The Oakley Mental Health Research Foundation’s influence on mental health research in Aotearoa over the years, and its dedicated trustees initially inspired me. Now, as the Whau Mental Health Research Foundation, its vision to broaden its reach excites me even more, with the potential to drive transformative change in mental health care.”

Ko Gina Giordani tōku ingoa. He uri au nō Ngati Porou ki te whānau a Ruataupare, me Kotirana, me Ingarani. Ko Tangāta Whai Ora au.

Gina Giordani is a Lived Experience Project Lead at Te Pou, a workforce development centre for the lived experience, mental health, addictions and disability sectors. Her work involves supporting the lived experience workforce to grow and flourish in line with the Consumer, Peer Support and Lived Experience workforce plan. Gina has her own lived experience, and whānau lived experience which informs her advocacy and work.

She has been on the Frozen Funds board for four years and was appointed to the Law Commission Review of Adult Decision-Making Capacity. She is also on the Community Collaboration Committee of the Royal College of Australian and New Zealand Psychiatrists.

In her previous career in politics Gina served as a board member for the New Zealand Labour Party, and contributed to worker’s rights and women’s rights causes. Gina enjoys studying Te Reo Māori in her spare time. 

Being involved in the Whau Foundation allows Gina to make a meaningful impact on the community through supporting mental health research initiatives. This aligns with her values of using her lived experience to empower others and foster innovation in the areas of mental health and addictions.

Dr Brian Linehan is a retired pathologist with considerable experience in medicine, governance, and commerce.

In 2014 he retired as pro-Chancellor of Waikato University after 12 years on the University Council where he was also Chair of the Finance Committee. He recently retired after 13 years as a member of the Waikato University Human Research Ethics Committee.

Until 2004 he was Managing Director of Medlab Hamilton and previously was Chairman of the New Zealand Medical Association. He was also Chairman of IANZ (International Accreditation NZ) where he was instrumental in setting up the procedures for the accreditation for medical laboratories. He was also an elected member of the Waikato Area Health Board until it’s dissolution in 1990. Other past positions included President of the New Zealand Society Pathologists, Examiner in chemical pathology for the Royal Australasian College of pathologists, and President of the Combined Medical Associations of Asia and Oceania (CMAAO). He also served as a member of the Board of Directors of Medical Assurance Society (MAS) for over 20 years.

Dr Linehan also served in the New Zealand Army (TF) for nearly 25 years retiring as ADMS New Zealand Land Forces in the rank of Colonel. He has been awarded the ED and DSM. Currently he is a Director of several private companies involved with farming, property development and finance.

Brian has been a Trustee of the Oakley Mental Health Research Foundation since 2001 and is also a member of the Multiple Sclerosis Research Trust (MSRT). He originally joined the Oakley Mental Health Research Foundation at the request of the then Medical Superintendent and Chairman of the Trust, Dr Pat Savage, who wanted a pathologist on the Trust Board to help evaluate some of the requests for funding which had a more pathological basis. He has also spent time, as a student, working in the (now abolished) Oakley and Tokanui Mental Hospitals.

Barbara has extensive leadership and management experience leading large teams within the New Zealand education and health sectors. She has held senior public sector positions including chair of the first Mental Health Commission and Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Education where she had responsibility for special education. Barbara was Research and Evaluation Director at Cognition Education, undertaking international education sector reviews and evaluations. Barbara has been the Chief Executive of several non-government organisations including the Mental Health Foundation and Richmond Fellowship. She was the Chief Executive of Emerge Aotearoa, New Zealand’s largest national mental health, addictions, disability and social housing provider.

Barbara has been involved in Government reviews including chairing the review of the ACC Sensitive Claims pathway and she was a panel member for the 2018 He Ara Oranga Mental Health Inquiry. Barbara is in the Ministry of Health Mental Health and Addiction Assurance group and is on the Board of the Te Hiringa Mahara, Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission. Over the past few years Barbara has been a Gateway Reviewer for the New Zealand Treasury. She is Chair of the Global Leaders Exchange for mental health and disability, an organisation that supports leaders to learn from each other and share their experiences, knowledge and evidence base with the goal of supporting all people to live better lives.

Barbara has a doctorate in education from Macquarie University Sydney and in 2011 was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her services to mental health.

Fostering new knowledge and sharing it widely to continue to improve not only health services but the wider social and community context for all, is the key motivator for Barbara’s continued involvement with Whau Foundation.

Emeritus Professor Dick Bellamy is a virologist and molecular cell biologist whose research career centred on rotaviruses, the principal agents of diarrhoeal disease in young children.

Over his tenure as a full-time researcher, he worked in the general area of the molecular Biology of virus infection and the application of recombinant methods to the characterisation of viral gene products: much of this work involving a network of collaborators in Australia and the USA and was supported by the NZ Health Research Council and other local and international Agencies.

Dick is a Fellow of the Academy of the Royal Society of New Zealand and recently retired From the University of Auckland after serving 10 years as Dean of Science. Before that he was founding Director of the School of Biological Sciences at the University.

Outside direct University involvements, Dick is a former Director of Auckland UniServices Ltd and its subsidiary DNA Diagnostics Ltd- which he helped found. Dick is a former Director of the Forest Research Institute (now Scion), was an Auckland Regional Councillor and is a former President of the Auckland Museum Council. Dick currently serves on three Auckland Uniservices Return on Science Investment Committees.

Dick maintains a strong interest in Medical Research and recognises the pressing need to support more research which targets NZ’s many mental health problems. Addressing Mental Health issues requires us to attract the resources necessary to support our own talented local researchers who are focusing on what is now one of NZ’s most important health issues.

Professor Robert Kydd was appointed Chair of the Oakley Mental Health Research Foundation in May 2022. Rob is Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Auckland where he was head of the Department of Psychological Medicine and also served as head of the School of Biomedical and Health Sciences and Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences.

He has been Clinical Director of Mental Health Services for Counties-Manukau District Health Board, Chair of the New Zealand branch of the Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, was the first chair of the Suicide Mortality Review Committee for the Health Quality and Safety Commission, currently chairs the board of the Anxiety New Zealand Trust and was one of the first medical advisers to the Schizophrenia Fellowship of New Zealand. He has served on the board of the Oakley Foundation since 2003.

Rob’s research has spanned a number of areas including biomedical research on the EEG, the use of advanced brain imaging (MRI and EEG) to understand and predict treatment response for mental disorders and clinical trials of drug treatment. He has also contributed to health services research in such areas as the use of the Mental Health Act in New Zealand and the role of employment in the rehabilitation of people with mental health disorders.

Rob’s clinical service has included experience on inpatient wards, in community mental health including with crisis and early intervention teams and he has been consultant to an inpatient rehabilitation unit. He currently has a very small private consulting practice. 

Rob would like to see research supported by the foundation increase the understanding of mental disorders, better inform service delivery and policy development in mental health and addictions and support the development of young researchers.