University Of Auckland appoints new director of Auckland Bioengineering Institute

Professor Merryn Tawhai has been appointed director of the Auckland Bioengineering Institute (ABI) and will replace the previous director Distinguished Professor Peter Hunter who is retiring from the role.

Professor Tawhai joined ABI at Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland as a research fellow in 2002, having graduated with a PhD in Engineering Science the previous year.

She is renowned for her world-leading work developing mathematical models of the lung to help in the understanding of both physiologically normal lungs and the pathological changes that can occur in disease. She leads a research programme in applied computational physiology of the respiratory system.

Previously deputy director of the ABI, Professor Tawhai was director of the Medical Technologies Centre of Research Excellence (MedTech CoRE) from 2018-2021. She was awarded the 2016 MacDiarmid Medal by the Royal Society of New Zealand (RSNZ) Te Apārangi, is a Fellow of the RSNZ, and a Fellow of IAMBE and AIMBE. She is also a director of Izon Science.

Professor Tawhai takes up the appointment from 4 September 2023.