About Us
Health Data Platform Team
The Health Data Platform team is based in the Schools of Medicine and Population Health in the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences. Our humble team of four has a common interest in health data. We come from a variety of academic backgrounds with interests in Medicine, Digital Health, Public Health and Data Science which propels our passion to deliver an ethical, secure, efficient health data platform.
From left to right: Jaimie Tang, Mazyar Zarepour, Katrina Poppe, Vanessa Selak
Katrina Poppe
Platform Director
Katrina is a biostatistician and clinical cardiac physiologist with extensive experience in cardiovascular disease from the perspectives of data science, clinical practice, and clinical, epidemiological and methodological research. Health data represents people and must be respected – from how it is collected, to how it is managed and stored, and importantly, how it is understood, analysed and interpreted. Katrina oversees the team operations and management of the Health Data Platform.
Mazyar Zarepour
Data Scientist
Mazyar Zarepour is a Doctoral Candidate in Engineering Science, his research focuses on building data-driven optimisation models to improve healthcare systems. He is interested in developing computational algorithms and simulation methods to solve these models. Mazyar oversees the data management of the platform and provides data linkage and cohorting services. His vision is to combine data science and operations research to empower efficient health service delivery.
Vanessa Selak
Platform Director
Vanessa is the Head of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Auckland. She is a medically trained epidemiologist and Public Health Medicine Specialist with 20 years’ health sector experience in clinical, planning, funding, and quality roles. The use of routinely collected health data to improve health outcomes and equity has underpinned Vanessa’s academic and health sector roles. Seeing the potential and challenges associated with the use of such data led Vanessa to recognise the need for the Health Data Platform, which she established with Katrina. As co-director of the Platform, Vanessa works alongside Katrina, supporting Platform development and governance.
Jaimie Tang
Health Data Coordinator
Jaimie is a Master of Public Health student specializing in Epidemiology and Biostatistics. She is passionate about optimizing health promotion strategies using digital technology. Jaimie works behind the scenes by coordinating Web design and Marketing of Health Data Platform. She also provides secretarial and administrative services for the Platform.