Nor'West News: January 24, 2017

6
Tuesday January 24 2017
Our People
NOR’WEST NEWS
Kate Russell
Proud mum awarded for her
Kate Russell has been a leader in the
not-for-profit health sector for 24 years. Georgia
O’Connor-Harding spoke to her about working
at the Canterbury Medical Research Foundation
and what it was like to raise three children as a
solo parent.
Congratulations on becoming
and Officer of the New Zealand
Order of Merit. You must be
very excited?
I was thrilled when I heard.
My first reaction was who the
heck must have nominated
me? But I still don’t know and
possibly never will. I am very
honoured. I didn’t know I was
going to get nominated. There
are so many different sectors
in my professional life where it
could have come from, but they
said health and governance and
that has narrowed it down.
What made you stick to
helping the not-for-profit
organisations?
I fell into the not-for-profit
sector by accident. My first job
was as a fundraising assistant
for Presbyterian Support. I
got it because it was a 20-hour
week job and it suited the fact I
had small children at the time.
I was in that job for a couple
of weeks and I had what you
would describe as a vocational
empathy of thinking, oh my
goodness, this is what I want to
do for the rest of my life. I was
30-years-old and aside from
being a mother, I hadn’t figured
out what I wanted to do careerwise.
I had always done things to
do with social justice. I had gone
on the ‘no tour marches’ and
was a junior member of human
rights organisation, Amnesty
International.
Tell me about working at the
Canterbury Medical Research
Foundation?
When I took this role, some
of my colleagues at the national
programme, Cystic Fibrosis New
Zealand, were like isn’t that a
step back because you are going
into a regional role? But after the
earthquakes, I very much had
in my heart to do something in
Canterbury. Medical research is
something you don’t always get
RECOGNISED: Kate Russell is chief executive of the Canterbury Medical Research Foundation,
which funds research and oversees organisations like the New Zealand Brain Research Institute.
PHOTO: GEOFF SLOAN
immediate results. In the nearly
three years I have been there, I
can’t say there has been a new
blockbuster drug. Rarely does
medical research go ahead in a
quantum leaps, it is these little
baby steps that happen over a
number of years.
Could give me a picture of the
research you are doing at the
moment?
We just finished a study on the
use of vitamin C and breast cancer.
We are also funding a young
women at Otago University
who is looking to use vitamin
C for people who have got ear
infections. We are also pivotal in
supporting the development of
the UC Rose Centre for Stroke
Recovery and Research.