Featherston Community Centre Charitable Trust AGM

Please join us at our AGM, Thursday 25^th July at 7pm to hear about the past year at the Featherston Community Centre, talk with the governing board, and enjoy a presentation from our guest speaker and Featherston local – Dr John Ryan McLane.Dr McLane will speak on his experiences and the reality of modern China and New Zealand’s relationship.

Ryan has worked in a range of settings over the past three decades, including managing a public health unit in the Alaskan arctic; leading a clinical team in an Ebola Treatment Unit in Sierra Leone; leading international response teams following disasters; and providing direct care for populations as diverse as indigenous Siberians, undocumented agricultural workers in California, and civilians caught in civil conflict in Guatemala.

During his ten years in New Zealand he has worked with the Southern DHB, the Ministry of Health’s Communicable Disease Team, and the University of Otago Medical School. While with the Ministry of Health he focused on disaster response capacity and pandemic preparedness, and worked closely with the WHO as well as serving as an expert adviser to New York City and the government of Fiji regarding disease mitigation. 

He has taught in Nursing and Medical programmes at both the undergraduate and graduate level. For the past two years he has served with the NZ Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Most recently Ryan returned from a term as Deputy Consul-General at the NZ Consulate in Chengdu, China. His current role is Senior Policy Officer, PNG and Nauru.

Ryan holds degrees in Nursing and History from the University of Alaska, a Masters in International Relations from Troy State University, and a Masters of Public Health from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. His PhD work with the University of Otago focused upon the 1918 influenza pandemic in the Samoas, Tonga, and Fiji.

The AGM will be at the Centre, 14 Wakefield Street, Featherston. The first half hour is a presentation on the Annual Report. Dr Ryan will speak at 7:30pm followed by a light supper. We have two positions open on the board so if you are interested in joining, please come along and have a chat. More information at featherstoncommunity.org.nz or follow us on Facebook.