Professor Merryn Tawhai – Director

Merryn Tawhai graduated from the University of Auckland with a PhD in Engineering Science in 2001. She is Director of the Medical Technologies Centre of Research Excellence (MedTech CoRE) and also the Deputy Director of the Auckland Bioengineering Institute (ABI). At the ABI Merryn has established a research programme in applied computational physiology of the lung. She was the inaugural Maurice Paykel Postdoctoral Fellow and has been a recipient of RSNZ Marsden, National Institutes of Health, Health Research Council of New Zealand, and MBIE grants.

Merryn’s current research is focused on the development of integrative computational models of the pulmonary system and their application in understanding structure-function interactions in normal physiology and in the pathophysiology of pulmonary disease. She has particular interest in the application of computational modelling to improving clinical diagnosis and monitoring of pulmonary disease, particularly in the older lung.

Research themes and flagship projects:

• Flagship 1: Model-based diagnostics and therapeutics in pulmonary medicine