Tom Devine (Master of Public Health, Columbia 2023) and researchers at Whakauae have been named this year's recipients of the Jack Elinson Award by Columbia University, New York City. The award is named for Jack Elinson, the first Chair of Columbia's Sociomedical Sciences Department, who coined the term sociomedical science. It recognises the contribution to sociomedical research made by a Columbia sociomedical sciences programmes graduate student through their lead authorship and publication of a paper of outstanding merit.
A faculty panel selected the paper, published in the Journal of Humanistic Psychology in 2022 and entitled “Equity, Public Health Messaging, and Traditional Māori Knowledge: The Te Ranga Tupua COVID-19 Response”, for this year's award. The paper's rigour, significance, and overall excellence were noted by the selection panel.
Tom has been with Whakauae since 2020 and has worked on a number of research projects alongside the team including the Te Ranga Tupua COVID-19 Response study, public health policy commentary, and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) access for Māori MSM. He has been in New York since 2021 completing his Master of Public Health degree at Columbia on a Fulbright Scholarship, William Georgetti Scholarship and Gordan Watson Scholarship.
Tom has also been nominated for a distinguished thesis award for his dissertation entitled Putting Systems Thinking into Public Health Practice: A toolkit for Aotearoa New Zealand.
He would like to acknowledge Whakauae and its leadership for their mentorship over recent years and for the opportunity to learn and be involved in Kaupapa Māori research. The knowledge he has acquired during his time with Whakauae has not only informed his studies at Columbia but also his work as a Principal Advisor at Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand.
Congratulations on all you have achieved to date through your hard work Tom!
Tom with school Dean Linda Fried
