Professor Bev Lawton ONZM (Ngāti Porou), founder of Te Tātai Hauora o Hine, Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington’s national centre for women’s health research, gets up every morning to save lives—and she’s up for the 2025 Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year award for her groundbreaking research.

Throughout her career, first as a GP, then as founder of Te Tātai Hauora o Hine, Bev has sought to reduce preventable harm and death for Māori and non-Māori women, their children and whānau. With a kaupapa Māori lens, she focuses on clinical care pathways, and systems to identify how these can better perform for women, babies, and whānau.

“Every member of my team works to eliminate preventable harm and death for women, babies, and whānau. One such goal includes eliminating cervical cancer. With the taonga of vaccination, and HPV self-testing, this is now achievable,” says Bev.

The achievement Bev is most proud of in her career is her advocacy for HPV self-testing. She says, “The voices of women in Aotearoa New Zealand have contributed to everything about the way in which this programme has been implemented. It was research in real-time. Those that had had the test as part of research projects, were informing the programme as it was being rolled out.”

“Regularly I meet people who tell me they were not just happy to do their HPV self-test, they were proud of it—because they own it, and they tell their friends to do it too. It is reaching a lot of people. Screening rates are going up.”

Bev is a partner in the ongoing campaign to eliminate cervical cancer. “We have the tools, but it will require funding, and a plan. The introduction of HPV self-testing in September 2023 is a fantastic step, but our HPV vaccination coverage is very low in comparison to Australia, where their government has committed nearly $50m to support the national elimination strategy.

“If I had a wish, it is that tomorrow, myself and every woman in Aotearoa be literally or figuratively, standing behind the Minister of Health when they announce their commitment to resourcing a cervical cancer elimination strategy.”

Previous Patron of Te Tātai Hauora o Hine and advisory board member Dame Silvia Cartwright says, “Over many years of association with Bev, I have been deeply impressed both by the quality and breadth of her research, but also by the skill she has demonstrated in nurturing the work of a whole generation of younger researchers who share her passion for the improvement in health care delivery. Bev has the rare ability to gather wide support for her work, but also to make it available at every level of the health care community. Her academic rigour and advocacy for improvement in health care together make her stand out in a field where it is notoriously difficult to achieve real, practical results.”

Working with iwi and communities, including Ngāti Pāhauwera, Ngāti Porou and Ngāti Toa, Bev leads projects and programmes to create positive, long term health system transformation. Each, she says, comes from years of relationship-building across iwi, hapū, health care providers and champions—all with the overall goal or serving community to reduce harm and save lives.

Bev speaks to the impact of having a rōpū Kaumātua advising her, saying, “The kaumātua ensure our mahi is tika (true) and responds to community. I get the right people on the waka. It’s not just my effort that has achieved the successes we have had in women’s health. It takes a lot of people to make this happen, as well as our vision for māmā and pēpi flourishing,” says Bev.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Māori, Professor Rawinia Higgins says, “Bev’s career exemplifies how research can create real-life, meaningful change. Her research shapes a better world, where women and children live longer, healthier lives.

“Her ability to collaborate with health providers, policy advisers, kuia kaumātua, funders, and people in the Māori community, exemplifies what we as a university want to achieve through research. Her achievement, to become a finalist in these prestigious awards, is superbly well-deserved—and if one more person self-tests because they’ve seen her story and experienced her advocacy, then she has achieved her goal.”

The other two finalists in New Zealander of the Year are Dame Lisa Carrington for pushing boundaries in sport and inspiring the next generation, and Sarah Hirini ONZM for redefining what is possible on and off the rugby field.

The winners will be announced at a ceremony at the Viaduct Events Centre in Auckland on 20 March.