Rachel Simon-Kumar

Dr Rachel Simon-Kumar is Associate Professor and Co-Director of the Centre for Asian and Ethnic Minority Health Research and Evaluation (CAHRE) within the School of Population Health at the University of Auckland.

Rachel completed her PhD in gender, international development, and policy at the University of Waikato. She holds an MPhil degree in applied economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University, India, master’s and bachelor’s degrees in psychology from the University of Kerala, India and a post-graduate diploma in Journalism from the Press Club, Trivandrum. She has previously held faculty positions at the University of Waikato and the School of Government, Victoria University of Wellington, and worked in the New Zealand public sector.

Rachel’s research centres on cultural, political, and structural determinants of equity for ethnic migrant populations. Her topics of research are diverse and include family and sexual violence, abortion, physical environments, inter-ethnic racism, women’s political representation, multiculturalism, and policy. She also researches on issues of gender in the context of the global south around reproductive and sexual health, and sustainable consumption.

Rachel has held research grants from the Health Research Council (2019, 2020), Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (Endeavour Grant, 2020), and the Royal Society of New Zealand’s Marsden Grant (2009, 2020). She has authored, co-authored, or co-edited two books, numerous academic articles, research reports, and opinion pieces. In 2022, she was awarded the New Zealand Fulbright Scholar award.

Rachel is Co-Director of CAHRE, based at the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences. The Centre has a strong focus on the current health issues of Asian and other Ethnic Minority communities in New Zealand. In this role, she seeks to encourage innovative interdisciplinary ethnic health research, develop strategic cross-institutional collaborations between ethnic health researchers, provide advice, and contribute to the development of early career ethnic health researchers.

In a voluntary capacity, she is the current Chair of the Board of Trustees of Shama, Ethnic Women’s Trust. Shama, based in Hamilton, provides social work support for ethnic women, children, and families, and runs programmes related to healthy relationships, parenting, and prevention of family and sexual violence.