Meet Our Team

Prior to her appointment as General Manager Awanui Labs Auckland and Northland Chris was responsible for the establishment and operations of the integrated pathology services to the 3 DHBs greater Wellington region of New Zealand since 2015.

Chris has more than 30 years experience in multidisciplinary public and private laboratories gaining experience with laboratory accreditation (ISO 15189), business acquisitions and integrations, including service model development and laboratory design.

Since joining Healthscope in 2011 as National Operations Manager, Chris has been responsible for pathology operations in Australia and procurement projects for Healthscope International Pathology.  Chris moved to New Zealand in 2015 to lead the successful Wellington tender.

Cheryle Dyson has nearly 40 years work experience in the health sector working for diagnostic laboratories, LabPLUS and the New Zealand Blood service, in a number of laboratory and management roles. 

Cheryle came to Awanui Labs in 2013 in a project management role.  At the successful conclusion of her project she moved into the role of Head of Department Logistics, transitioning to Laboratory Operations Manager late in 2016.

Saad has fourteen years work experience in the health sector working for Southern Community Laboratory, Diagnostic Medlab and LabPLUS, in a number of laboratory roles.

Saad joined Awanui Labs in 2009 in a technical specialist role.  At the successful set up of the cytology department he moved into the role of Quality Coordinator, transitioning to Quality Assurance Manager early in 2014 and absorbing the added reponsibility of managing the quality systems of Northland Pathology in mid 2015; and facility management in mid 2016.

Saad has also been appointed to the Medical Science Council New Zealand registration committee in mid 2017.

Dr James Liang is a clinical and laboratory haematologist with special interest in adult haematological cancer while also managing general haematological conditions such as thrombosis and haemostasis.

After completing his medical degrees in 2005 from the University of Auckland, James continued his medical training in the Auckland region.  In 2015 he was awarded a research fellowship from Cancer and Palliative Network (Perth, Australia) and spent 2016-2017 at the University of Western Australia and Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital.  During this time his research mainly focused in the field of myeloproliferative neoplasm and development of novel method of blood-based cancer detection.

Apart from his clinical research interest, James believes in the importance of disseminating knowledge and has lectured undergraduates, and been an invited speaker in community events, GP seminars and international conferences.

Dr Hurst is a graduate from the University of Otago Medical School. She trained in Clinical and Laboratory Immunology.

Dr Hurst currently works part time at Awanui Labs as well as part-time at Auckland City Hospital. She has a speciality interest in anaphylaxis and primary immunodeficiency. She holds joint fellowship in the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia.

Dr Matt Blakiston graduated from University of Otago medical school.  He has completed an MSc in Tropical Infectious Diseases (Liverpool) and Medical Microbiology (LSHTM).  He trained in Clinical Microbiology in the Auckland region.  In addition to working at Awanui Labs, Dr Blakiston works as a clinical microbiologist at Auckland City Hospital.   His areas of particular interest within microbiology include the epidemiology and control of antimicrobial resistance, antimicrobial susceptibility testing and mycobacteriology.  Dr Blakiston is a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia and a member of the Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases and the Australian Society for Antimicrobials.

Dr Ranmini Kularatne trained as a Clinical Microbiologist at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. She obtained an MSc (Med) in Microbiology and a Diploma in Tropical Medicine & Hygiene from the University of the Witwatersrand. Prior to moving to Awanui Labs in Auckland, she was head of a general diagnostic microbiology laboratory at a tertiary academic hospital, and afterwards head of the national STI reference laboratory at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases in Johannesburg. She is an advisor to the STI Guideline Development Group at the World Health Organization, and an executive committee member of the International Union against STI. Additionally, she is a lecturer (joint-staff) in the Department of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases at the Faculty of Health Sciences of the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.

Dr Bloomfield trained in microbiology and infectious diseases at Wellington Hospital and University College London Hospital, UK, leading to fellowship with RCPA and RACP.  Whilst in the UK he completed two masters degrees: an MSc in clinical microbiology at Queen Mary, University of London and an MPhil in epidemiology at the University of Cambridge.  He works as a clinical microbiologist at Wellington SCL, in addition to Awanui Labs. Dr Bloomfield has a wide range of interests within microbiology and infectious diseases, including diagnostic stewardship and antimicrobial resistance.