Dianne Sika-Paotonu

Dianne Sika-Paotonu is a New Zealand immunologist, biomedical scientist and academic in the Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine and Associate Dean (Pacific) at the University of Otago Wellington. She is of Tongan descent and is the first Pasifika biomedical scientist to receive the Cranwell Medal for science communication in 2020 and the 2022 Prime Minister's Science Communicator of the Year prize. In 2024 Sika-Paotonu was awarded the Callaghan Medal by the Royal Society Te Apārangi.

Early life and education Sika-Paotonu was born in New Zealand to Tongan parents who emigrated to New Zealand from Tonga in the 1960s. She has one brother. She attended Cannons Creek Primary School, the Wellington Seventh Day Adventist school and Wellington Girls' College. She studied at Victoria University of Wellington where she gained a BSc in physiology in 2001, a Bachelor of Biomedical Science in molecular pathology in 2003, a Masters in Biomedical Science in 2007 and a PhD.

Career Sika-Paotonu completed her PhD while working on cancer vaccines at the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research in Wellington. She has raised issues of concern about missed diagnoses of rheumatic fever during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Her research into the early detection of cancer using a blood test was funded by a Sir Thomas Davis Te Patu Kite Rangi Ariki Fellowship in 2018.

Her work extends into health equity issues for Pasifika and Māori communities and mentoring Pasifika students and researchers. She is a Health Research Council Pacific Emerging Research Fellow.

Honours and awards MacDiarmid Award (2008) New Zealand Association of Scientists (NZAS) Cranwell Medal for Science communication (2020) Fulbright Scholarship (2020) Callaghan Medal (2024)

Personal life Sika-Paotonu is married to Reno Paotonu and they have one daughter.

Selected publications