Haley Ataera

A love of science and maths propelled Haley through postgraduate study and into multiple roles in government and health policy.

You wouldn’t be considering a career in science if you didn’t love it. When it came to career choice, for me, genetics was a given. I loved the combination of science and maths and the mystery of how endless variations of really simple building blocks leads to such a huge diversity of flora and fauna. There are so many real-world applications: from talking through the chances of a friend’s child having an extra finger, to explaining why human babies are born so helpless when farm animals can stand within minutes of being born. I love being able to answer in a way that makes sense and hopefully helps to demystify science in the process.

After finishing my PhD in Biomedical Research with a focus on cancer immunotherapy, I moved to the States to do a postdoctoral fellowship. My project involved developing new immunotherapies for children with neuroblastomas by modifying the patient’s own immune cells to target tumour cells. I realised pretty quickly that although I loved the project, I wasn’t prepared to continue working long hours with tenuous job security. I also wanted to be closer to friends and family, so I moved back to New Zealand.

My advice is to be smart about where you are going with your science studies. Keep an eye on local, national, and international job-seeker sites to see what kind of roles are available and what you need for these roles. If you have other interests that would complement your science major, for example law, management, policy, commerce, communication, or teaching, see if you can build these into your studies.

My degree helped me land a job at the Ministry of Health as a medicines assessor with a focus on biological medicines. I then moved on to an operational policy role, helping to implement new or changed legislation administered by the Ministry of Health, such as the Therapeutic Products Bill, which will replace the Medicines Act, and legislation to regulate vaping products. In addition to my science skills, the role also used other skills that I honed through my degree, such as problem-solving, critical analysis of information, and public speaking.

From there I moved into a policy analyst role in the regulatory policy team at the Ministry, where I developed new legislation to regulate various health industries. I then spent 18 months at the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, using my operational policy experience in a very different regulatory environment (for example, the building industry) and growing my people leadership skills. I re-joined the Ministry of Health in 2020 as the manager of my old regulatory policy team.

I was recently seconded as a private secretary to the Minister of Health where I used my subject matter expertise to help make sure the Minister received good, timely advice on a range of topics, both familiar and new to me, across the health portfolio.

I never imagined that this would be where my degree would take me but I am so happy it did. Serendipity at its finest.

Update: Haley is currently Principal Policy Advisor at the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development in Wellington.