Aliitasi is the inaugural Pacific Senior Lecturer appointed in the Faculty of Health. Prior to her appointment, she was the Programme Manager for the Bachelor of Social Work, Bachelor of Early Childhood Education and the NZ Diploma in Funeral Directing Services in Whitireia and WelTec Institutions.

Aliitasi migrated to New Zealand as a young scholar in the mid-1970s and attended secondary and tertiary education. After 15 years of working in the public sector, Aliitasi returned to school as an adult student to pursue higher qualifications. She completed her MA (Applied) in 2006 and PhD in 2010 from Victoria University of Wellington while she worked at the Health Services Research Centre. She was awarded a Postdoctoral scholarship in 2011 and continued her Postdoctoral Research from 2011-2013.

Born in Samoa, her parents are Su’a Sami from Gagaifo Lefaga and Leaso Su’a from Matautu Falelatai. Aliitasi is passionate about supporting Pacific students in tertiary education as she believes a good education is a tool to make a difference in every family.

Her Postdoctoral Research allowed her to undertake an analysis of three Pacific nations’ health strategies to identify strengths and weaknesses. Aliitasi is currently working on the development of a Pacific research model to enhance understanding of conducting a research process with a Pacific community.