MAS Members receive Queen's Birthday Honours

Ten MAS Members have been recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List for their public service in fields ranging from nursing to oncology, education, the Pacific community, and the veterinary profession.

Our warmest congratulations to all the recipients and thank you for the contributions you have made over many years. We’re honoured to be able to support those who have given so much to New Zealand society.

Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit

Distinguished Professor Jane Harding for services to neonatology and perinatology. 

Professor Harding is a world-leading neonatologist at the University of Auckland's Liggins Institute and was appointed as an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2002 for her services to paediatrics. 

Professor Harding assembles, supports, and leads international mutli-disciplinary teams to address critical questions in perinatal medicine through world-first research. Her research has investigated how events and interventions during pregnancy, birth and the newborn period affect the growth, development, and long-term health of babies and their mothers. Her work on the regulation of a baby's growth before and after birth has led to paradigm changes in the field, nationally and internationally. She identified the impact of low blood sugar levels on premature babies' brain development and developed a simple and cheap intervention in the form of dextrose gel, which has changed the treatment of babies around the world. She has previously been the Deputy Director of the Liggins Institute from 2003 to 2007 and the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research) of the University of Auckland from 2008 to 2015. Since 2014, she has been the New Zealand Secretary for the Rhodes Trust, appointed by the Trust to select and mentor future generations of outstanding New Zealand leaders and scholars. Professor Harding chaired the Public Health Global Challenge Steering Group and has been a member of the Worldwide Universities Network's Academic Advisory Group, also chairing their Public Health Global Challenge Steering Group. 

Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit

Professor John Nacey for services to health and education. 

Professor Nacey was appointed to the New Zealand Medical Council in 2010 and was elected Chair of the Education Committee. 

In this position Professor Nacey led the development and implementation of significant changes to prevocational medical training in New Zealand and chaired seven separate Accreditation Committees to assist the New Zealand District Health Boards reach new standards. He was appointed Chair of the New Zealand Task Force on Prostate Cancer in 2012 and subsequently became Chair of the Prostate Cancer Awareness and Quality Improvement Programme to implement the recommendations of the Task Force. During his time as a lecturer at the University of Otago, he chaired the Faculty Curriculum Committee and oversaw the committee's implementation of structural changes to the oversight and delivery of medical education and the modernisation of the curriculum in the late 1990s. He was Dean of the Wellington School of Medicine for 10 years and supervised a major building programme to improve the school's teaching and research facilities. In 2001 he oversaw the opening of the School of Radiation Therapy on the University of Otago Wellington Campus. He has been one of the leaders of the Wellington Prostate Brachytherapy Group since 2001. Professor Nacey chaired reviews of the New Zealand Cancer Registry in 2010 and 2013. 

George Ngaei for services to health and the Pacific community.

George Ngaei has been involved in improving Māori and Pacific health as a practicing general surgeon (Endoscopic and Gastrointestinal) in Invercargill, as well as providing his expertise to work and consult on a wide range of medical issues for those living in the Cook Islands. 

Mr Ngaei has returned to Rarotonga at least on an annual basis, at his own cost, to support the medical profession in the areas where skills are either not available or are in short supply. He has performed surgeries at the local hospital, often bringing his own team from New Zealand to assist. He has been Chair of the South Island Pacific Providers Collective since 2014 and is a committee member of the Auckland-based Cook Islands Health Network Association. In 2002 he established a Pacific Island Specialist Nursing Service in collaboration with the Pacific Island Advisory and Cultural Trust (PIACT) and has been Chairman of PIACT since 2007. He was a representative for the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS) on the Southland Medical Foundation from the 1990s until 2018. Mr Ngaei was previously elected to the New Zealand Committee of the RACS and is a member of the Board of the Auckland-based Cook Islands Development Agency New Zealand. 

Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit

Dr Daryle Deering for services to nursing, particularly mental health and addiction nursing.

Dr Deering has spearheaded the development of addiction nursing in New Zealand. 

Dr Deering is a registered nurse whose career in mental health and addiction nursing spans close to 50 years. In 2007, she completed her PhD, studying methadone treatment in New Zealand. She was a founding faculty member of the National Addiction Centre at the University of Otago, where she was a strong voice for effective provision of methadone maintenance treatment in New Zealand. She was the Director of Mental Health Nursing for the Canterbury District Health Board from 2000 to 2007. She volunteered as President of Te Ao Māramatanga – New Zealand College of Mental Health Nurses from 2010 to 2014. She has been a member of mutiple health working groups and advisory groups. She led a national nursing reference group that eventually developed the New Zealand Addiction Specialty Nursing Competency Framework in 2012, which continues to guide mental health, primary care, and addiction nurses in their professional development. Dr Deering is a Life Member of Drug and Alcohol Nurses of Australasia. 

Dr Garry Forgeson for services to oncology.

Dr Forgeson has been Specialist Medical Oncologist at Palmerston North Hospital and has been involved with the Cancer Society of New Zealand at a governance level since 1988.

Dr Forgeson led the expansion and consolidation into a complete cancer treatment provider, of the current Regional Cancer Treatment Service, linking the hospitals of Palmerston North, Gisborne, Hastings, Taranaki and Whanganui. He has been Chair of the Palmerston North Hospital Radiotherapy and Oncology Trust since 1995, overseeing an expansion in the activity and assets of the Trust. He has been a member, Vice President and President of the Cancer Society Manawatu Centre Executive. He has been President of the Cancer Society of New Zealand Central Districts Division since 2000 and a member of the National Board of the Cancer Society since 2002. He has held Crown appointments as Chair of the Cancer Treatment Advisory Group, a member of the Cancer Programme Steering Group, the Cancer Control Implementation Task Force from 2003 to 2004, and the Cancer Control Council in 2005 and 2009. Dr Forgeson was a lecturer in Medical Oncology at the Institute of Cancer Research and Senior Registrar for the Department of Medicine at the Royal Marsden Hospital in the United Kingdom from 1985 to 1987. 

Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit

Carol Bartle for services to health, particularly breastfeeding education. 

Carol Bartle was the coordinator of the Canterbury Breastfeeding Advocacy Service and now works as a Policy Analyst for the New Zealand College of Midwives. 

Ms Bartle has a background in nursing, midwifery, education, and lactation consultancy and has advocated for the protection, promotion and support of breastfeeding since the 1980s. She is an experienced educator, teaching seminars in New Zealand and overseas on all aspects of breastfeeding, social marketing, ethics, and the international code of marketing of breast-milk substitutes. She helped to establish the Baby Friendly Hospital initiative, which has seen New Zealand's breastfeeding rates on hospital discharge increase by 50 percent since 2000. She was a member of the New Zealand National Breastfeeding Committee and has been a member of the La Leche League's New Zealand and International Professional Advisory Groups for many years. She has been involved with the establishment of the two donor human milk banks in New Zealand, Christchurch Women's Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit milk bank and the Rotary Community Breast Milk Bank. Ms Bartle is a Board member of West Christchurch Women's Refuge. 

Dr Vince Peterson for services to the veterinary profession.

Dr Vince Peterson has contributed to the veterinary profession for more than 50 years. 

Dr Peterson worked as a veterinarian for almost 40 years, in both Hokitika and Geraldine, and at times was the only veterinarian on the West Coast. In 1994 he became a Board Member for the Veterinary Professional Insurance Society (VPIS) and served as Chairman from 1998 to 2016. VPIS is a not-for-profit incorporated society functioning as an indemnity insurer run by veterinarians for veterinarians. Around 80 percent of veterinarians in New Zealand are insured with VPIS. As Chairman he oversaw VPIS's transition to meet the regulatory obligations of the Insurance (Prudential Supervision) Act 2010, helping VPIS move from a novice insurance position to offering one of the leading indemnity policies for the veterinary profession. He was also a Board Member for the New Zealand Veterinary Association for four years. He has assisted other veterinarians over the years, including educating and advocating for them in times of need. Dr Peterson has directly contributed to positive changes to the Veterinary Council's complaints system. 

Dr Janet Turnbull for services to health. 

Dr Turnbull is a Geriatrician and Palliative Care Physician, who was made a Fellow of the Australasian College of Physicians in 1991. 

Dr Turnbull was the Clinical leader of the ORA (Older Adult, Rehabilitation and Allied Health) service at Capital and Coast District Health Board (CCDHB) from 2011 to 2019. She has worked with CCDHB since 1992 and Mary Potter Hospice since 1997. She has worked within the the DHB to remodel the Geriatric Service in the areas of Community and Acute Geriatrics (the CAREFUL service), Geriatric Inpatient Care at Kenepuru Community Hospital, and has created specialist services in Movement Disorders. She has worked to help develop the Community Multi-disciplinary Motor Neurone Disease service for the Wellington, Porirua and Kapiti areas. She is a past member of the College Adult Education Committee, and has been an examiner for the college. Dr Turnbull has provided specialist education in palliative care in neurodegenerative disease, and provides support to the Mary Potter Hospice Community Service in this area. 

Sharon Kearney for services to physiotherapy and netball.

Sharon Kearney has been heavily involved in injury prevention for Netball New Zealand and High Performance Sport New Zealand for more than a decade and is one of the country's top experts in the field. 

Ms Kearney worked as a physiotherapist for the national youth netball teams and the Silver Ferns in the 1990s, before being appointed as a Medical Co-ordinator and touring physiotherapist for the Silver Ferns from 2002 to 2016. She has attended five World Championships, two Commonwealth Games and three World Youth Cups with New Zealand Netball teams. She is currently the Injury Prevention Manager for Netball New Zealand, developing injury prevention, physiotherapy and management programmes to help prevent sports injuries. She was a Specialist Advisor in physiotherapy for the New Zealand Academy of Sport from 2005 to 2006 and was Lead Physiotherapist for High Performance Sport New Zealand from 2001 to 2015. Alongside her national sports teams and organisations, Ms Kearney has been a tutor and clinical educator for the University of Otago's Physiotheraphy Clinic.