Ulisese Tapuvae
After completing a Master of Health in health promotion, Ulisese will be taking up a role overseeing all nurses and midwives at Samoa's main hospital.
A registered nurse and midwife, and the principal nursing officer for the main tertiary hospital in Samoa, Ulisese was the recipient of a New Zealand Scholarship from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT).
He arrived in Wellington in 2019 where he first completed an English proficiency programme, and then began the Master of Health programme in 2020, specialising in health promotion.
Ulisese will be returning to the same hospital in Samoa to take up a role overseeing all nurses and midwives – no small undertaking.
“It’s a huge role – there’s up to 500 staff. I’m really looking forward to going back with this new knowledge and being able to share that.
“Health promotion is something I’m passionate about because it offers a lot of opportunities to grow healthcare and strategy in general.
“I didn’t fully realise the depth of health promotion until I started really studying it. It’s such a big component of healthcare – from health evaluation, programme planning, assessment and implementation to monitoring and evaluation.
“I feel very lucky to have taken the right path by studying this.”
While he is interested in the whole continuum of health promotion, one particularly useful aspect of the programme is learning how to strategise and inform policymakers, Ulisese says.
“That was a really important part of the progamme for me – how I can look at an issue and present that issue with recommendations to the policy makers in a way that makes them understand how we need to address it.”
Ulisese chose Victoria University of Wellington because it looked the most relevant to his goals, with the right scope of papers and academic expertise.
“The courses looked exactly like what I wanted and needed to do.
“I always wanted to study in Wellington too. It’s a beautiful place – I’ve always liked the fresh weather - and it’s very safe. People are friendly and it’s a lovely community to study and live in. New Zealand is a very welcoming place in general.
“I knew there were other students from Samoa studying here too.
“My son, who my mother and I raised, also lives here so it was a good opportunity for me to spend some more time with him and his family.”
The research thesis is the most challenging and rewarding paper, Ulisese says.
His research focus was on health promotion for Pacifica, and especially Samoan, communities, and investigated why health promotion strategies and activities were failing to reduce the increasing prevalence of diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and stroke.
“That’s why I chose to study this area – because it has real impact on our community.
“My supervisor was very supportive during it, and I learnt a lot from the whole process – though there were some long hours spent working on it!”
Speaking at the Pasifika graduation celebration on Monday, Ulisese told the students Victoria University of Wellington was the best higher learning institute they could go to in terms of the courses available, the lecturers and researchers, and the community of peers.
“When I go home I will encourage my colleagues to choose Victoria University of Wellington as it’s the best place to come and study in my mind.”
His family will be attending the ceremony, including his grandchildren – one of whom was named Victoria by his eldest son to reflect Ulisese’s journey here.