Te Aka Mātauranga Matepukupuku

Cancer is a major cause of mortality and morbidity in New Zealand; we have the fourth highest cancer rate in the world. This disease significantly affects Māori, with Māori deaths from cancer at least one and a half times higher than that among non-Maori adults.

Every day 60 New Zealanders will be told they have cancer. The disease accounts for nearly a third of all deaths and more than 70% of deaths among those aged 65 and over. Left unchecked, it will have serious and far reaching implications as our population ages.

Since the establishment of the Medical School in 1968, the University of Auckland has earned a reputation locally, nationally, and internationally for its work in the field of cancer research and cancer treatment especially in the pre-clinical area of research. The University also has an established reputation in the field of cancer drug development.

More recently the University has been able to build on its research strengths in partnership with the Auckland metropolitan District Health Boards’ clinical and laboratory services within the Auckland Academic Health Alliance partnership framework by establishing a number of joint research platforms and programmes to enable cancer research and the delivery of cancer clinical services.
This enhanced scope and scale of cancer research activity across both the academic and health sectors in Auckland is reflected in the University’s decision to establish a new transdisciplinary centre for cancer research hosted by the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences in partnership with the northern NZ DHBs.