Our team

Loretta Roberts is the National Director of the Immunisation Advisory Centre. Loretta has worked for IMAC for the past 20 years; her most recent role was as National Manager for seven years.

Loretta has an extensive background in nursing, education, and maternal-child health, having practiced across a number of locations in Asia, the Pacific Islands, and Aotearoa New Zealand. She has used her organisational experience, clinical knowledge, and management skills to support and lead the IMAC team to deliver their wide range of immunisation services.

If you have questions about how IMAC could support the vaccinator workforce and your organisation, or any contractual inquiries, please contact Loretta directly.

Professor Nikki Turner is an academic General Practitioner. She is a Professor in the Department of General Practice and Primary Care and Medical Director of the Immunisation Advisory Centre.

She works part time as a General Practitioner in Wellington and is based in Wellington.

She has over 20 years' experience in academic research and service delivery with vaccine preventable disease, national immunisation programmes and vaccine service delivery both in New Zealand and internationally.

Dr Mamaeroa David is the Senior Māori Medical Advisor with the Immunisation Advisory Centre.

She is a General Practitioner based in west Auckland and has a passion for preventative medicine. She has been a Medical Advisor with IMAC for the past 18 months and in 2024 she was appointed to the role of Senior Māori Medical Advisor.

“Working in healthcare, I am excited to make a difference on an individual and whānau level, up to a wider community and national level”, says Mamaeroa.

“I am excited to see a shift to embed te ao Māori practices into our everyday mahi. The phenomenal Māori and Pasifika general practice leadership throughout primary care is inspirational, and is a major reason I joined IMAC.”

Dr Ellaine Ete-Rasch is the Senior Pacific Advisor with the Immunisation Advisory Centre.

She grew up in Samoa and commenced her nursing schooling there before moving to New Zealand in the 1990s. Ellaine completed a PhD in Nursing from Victoria University of Wellington focusing on the persistent high rates of preventable hospitalisations of Pacific children. Ellaine has an extensive background in child health and primary health care nursing.

Ellaine first joined IMAC in 2021 as a COVID-19 nurse educator for the Polynesian Vaccination and Training Programme, a collaborative initiative with the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade to support and strengthen COVID-19 vaccination trainings for the nursing workforce in seven Pacific countries; Niue, Cook Islands, Tokelau, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu and Fiji.

Bernadette Heaphy is a Programme Manager, who oversees our vaccinator foundation and updates education. She also leads quality improvement projects such as those related to cold chain and clinical assessments.

Bernadette has worked in the immunisation field for over 20 years, first as an RN working in General Practice, then as a CCA assessor and immunisation coordinator.

She has held a range of roles within IMAC over the last 12-plus years and still finds satisfaction in engaging directly with parents, caregivers and whānau to address their individual concerns.

Jane Morphet has a background in nursing and midwifery, with a strong focus on education. Prior to working at IMAC, Jane worked in the United Kingdom for many years, specialising in the field of immunisation.

Jane supports the Regional Immunisation Advisors and their teams. She also manages the 0800IMMUNE staff and works closely with her colleagues developing COVID-19 education and resources.

Michele Crawshaw is the Communications Manager with the Immunisation Advisory Centre.

Prior to this, Michele has worked in Communications roles with Auckland Council and with A Better Start National Science Challenge – an MBIE-funded 10-year child health research programme focused on addressing critical health challenges faced by our tamariki and rangatahi.

Michele has an extensive background in the New Zealand media industry, and has been Editor of several of the country’s top magazine publications.

Victoria Rameke is the Clinical Communications Manager with the Immunisation Advisory Centre.

She is a trained pharmacist, having worked in pharmacies in New Zealand and the UK over the past 20 years. She has been a COVID-19 vaccination site lead, and established pharmacy and outreach COVID-19 vaccination clinics during the pandemic.

She joined IMAC in 2021 and leads our Clinical Communications Centre team, which provides immunisation advice to health professionals through our 0800 IMMUNE phone line.

Jenny Wong is the Operations Manager with the Immunisation Advisory Centre.

Jenny’s experience includes programme and project management, public health and workforce development to foster collaboration.

Theo Brandt is the Information Manager within IMAC.

He did a BSc(Hons) in Social Psychology with The University of Auckland. Since 2003 Theo has worked across a variety of projects within the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences and is now Information Manager for the Immunisation Advisory Centre, managing the development of websites, learning systems and other platforms.

Lisa Box is the Northern Regional Immunisation Advisor for the Immunisation Advisory Centre. She initially joined IMAC in the role of COVID-19 Regional Immunisation Advisor.

Lisa has many years of experience in the primary healthcare sector, with responsibilities including cold chain management and CCA reviews, vaccinator clinical assessments, quality improvement and RNZCGP foundation assessments.

In her role, Lisa supports the wider health sector in the region, as well as IMAC education facilitators, in delivering our wide range of immunisation services including workforce education and training courses to increase the vaccinator workforce.

Renee Stewart (Ngāti Tūwharetoa) is the Regional Immunisation Advisor for the Midland region, based in Turanganui a Kiwa/Gisborne. Renee is a Registered Nurse and comes to the team with a broad variety of skills and knowledge. Her background includes surgical, general practice, and iwi provider-community/rural, and district nursing.

As a Regional Immunisation Advisor, Renee supports the wider health sector in the Midland region with workforce education and clinical advice regarding cold chain and the National Immunisation Schedule.

Shelley Kininmonth is the Regional Immunisation Advisor, based in Te Whanganui a Tara, supporting and working with the immunisation sector across the Central region.  Shelley is a Registered Nurse whose passion for immunisation has been reinforced by many years working in oncology and in primary care.

In her role, Shelley supports the wider health sector in the region, as well as IMAC education facilitators, in delivering work force education and development. With many years at IMAC, Shelley is involved in cold chain support and clinical advice across the entire region, supporting the work of the Local Immunisation Coordinators.

Sue Rogers is the Regional Immunisation Advisor working alongside the South Island teams.

Sue has diverse clinical and leadership experience gained across the health sector over many years.

Learning and development is a passion of Sue’s and she is excited to be in a service role that will help make a positive difference to people's lives.

If you are seeking education for your health providers, please contact Sue.