Monday, 11 March 2019
Photo Credit: Rotorua Daily Post
Barry Smith passed away recently. Barry was a great friend of the Bioethics Centre, a regular delegate to the New Zealand Bioethics Conference over many years, and a highly valued contributor to our research ethics teaching. A number of members of staff served with him on committees such as the Health Research Council Ethics Committee, and the Advisory Committee for Assisted Reproductive Technology (ACART). I also had the pleasure of working alongside him on the draft National Ethical Standards for Health and Disability research. Barry played an important role in the development of the Te Ara Tika Guidelines for health research conducted with Māori, and in the integration of the values described in Te Ara Tika into the draft Standards. I also worked with him organising the Asia-Pacific Regional Ethics meeting taking place in Wellington later this year. All of us who knew Barry experienced his wairua, and his mana, his determination to improve the health of Māori, and of all people; his wide smile and profound humanity; and these are things we hope to take forward on our journeys.
“A red libation to your good memory, friend. There's work yet for the living.” (Hone Tuwhare, Ron Mason)