Bio:

Grace is a Nurse Educator at Asthma NZ, dedicated to educating patients, whānau, and healthcare professionals on asthma. After graduating in 2017 and starting her career in the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit at Starship Hospital, she had firsthand experience seeing children become extremely unwell, with some illnesses being preventable if treated early. She took this experience and passion to work for a Rheumatic Fever Prevention Programme, helping to detect and treat strep throat infections in children. Since then, she has developed an interest in respiratory health and works alongside her patients to ensure those living with asthma lead long, healthy lives with reduced hospital visits.

Grace has a passion for educating healthcare professionals and has strong connections with the University of Auckland to provide asthma education to pharmacy and nursing students. She has also presented at the Association of Emergency Care Training Providers Conference (AECTP) in 2023 and travelled around New Zealand to provide asthma education workshops to nurses.

Grace’s qualifications include a Bachelor of Nursing, Postgraduate Certificate in Child Health, and Diploma in Public Health. She is also working as a nurse researcher at the University of Auckland on the DIGIPREDICT Asthma Study, which aims to develop a prediction model by capturing changes in the body that happen before an asthma attack occurs.

Her topics include:

• Asthma in adolescents and adults
• Asthma in children
• Asthma and wheeze in under 4
• Asthma NZ guidelines 2020
• DIGIPREDICT Asthma Study