Hinemoa Elder MNZM

Dr Hinemoa Elder is of Ngāti Kuri, Te Aupouri, Te Rarawa and Ngāpuhi descent. She is a Fellow of the Royal Australia and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists and has been a consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist for more than 10 years. Dr Elder is the Professor of Indigenous Health Research at Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi. She was a recipient of the Eru Pomare Post Doctoral Fellow, Health Research Council of New Zealand 2014–2018. Hinemoa is the Māori Strategic Leader for the Centre of Research Excellence (CoRE) for the Ageing Brain.

Dr Elder is an advocate for use of Te Reo Māori and is a graduate of Te Pīnakitanga ki te Reo Kairangi, rangapū tuarima (Te Wānanga o Aotearoa). In addition to her medical qualifications she has a PhD (Massey University, 2012) that developed theory and a novel recovery approach grounded in Te Ao Māori, for young Māori with traumatic brain injury, their whānau and professionals which is now being used in community rehabilitation services. She is currently working on an augmented reality version of the tools. She continues to work clinically as a neuropsychiatrist with those who have experienced traumatic brain injury and their whānau.

Since 2007 Dr Elder also works in the area of Youth Forensic Psychiatry in the Waikato, Auckland and Northland regions writing reports for the adult, youth and family courts. 

Dr Elder has served on several Ministry of Health reference groups. She is a deputy psychiatrist member of the NZ Mental Health Review Tribunal and a Specialist Assessor under the Intellectual Disability (Compulsory Care and Rehabilitation) Act 2003. Dr Elder is also an invited Research Associate of the Person Centred Research Centre, and the National Institute for Stroke and Applied Neurosciences at AUT and is a member of the Māori Advisory Committee of the Centre for Brain Research, University of Auckland. Dr Elder is a Trustee and Director of Emerge Aotearoa, a national NGO and an Advisory Trustee on Te Puna Ora o Mataatua Charitable Trust. In 2018 Professor Elder was appointed to the International Science Advisory Panel of the National Science Challenge, “E Tipu E Rea, A Better Start”.