Editor’s Letter – Spring 2020

As a society, we tend to celebrate celebrity a lot. Linguists amongst you might wince at the use of those two words together as, of course, they are connected but it is a strange thing sometimes, this obsession with the famous, particularly the Insta-famous. But then again, maybe I’m jealous that I don’t have thousands of people hearting my Chai Latte.

I do think though, that we could probably add in a few more metrics of things to celebrate, and people within the science and health world have to be right up there. Of special note in this realm of human achievement is Dr. Lisa Pilkington (page 52) who is a scientist at the very cutting-edge of treatment for breast cancer – and more specifically, triple-negative breast cancer, which is particularly hard to treat.

To put Dr. Pilkington’s work into sobering perspective is the fact that more than 3,300 women in New Zealand are diagnosed with breast cancer every year and every year, 650 women die. Statistics have a hard time of really conveying the true pain and emotional impact on those who get this disease, as well as their family and friends. The work that Dr. Pilkington is doing will have a profound impact on the lives of many New Zealanders. That is something worth celebrating.