To be a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
DANESH-MEYER, Professor Helen Victoria, CNZM
For services to ophthalmology
Professor Helen Danesh-Meyer is New Zealand’s pre-eminent authority, and an internationally recognised leader in the clinical science of interactions between the brain and the eye, and was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2023
Since 2023, Professor Danesh-Meyer has made further contributions on the international stage as President of the Neuro-ophthalmology Society of Australia, the first New Zealander to hold this post. She received the College Medal in 2023, the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists’ highest award for outstanding service. She was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society Te Apārangi in 2024, New Zealand’s highest honour for scholarly achievement. She was elected as a member of Academia Ophthalmologica Internationalis in 2024, limited to 100 scientists internationally based on research contributions. She was ranked among the top ten glaucoma leaders globally in 2025. She leads major charitable and community efforts, including Glaucoma New Zealand, a 15,000-member charity she co-founded that influences public policy on vision through education and advocacy. Professor Danesh-Meyer founded and leads the Vision Research Foundation to support early and mid-career New Zealanders in vision research, and leads Women in Vision, a national forum empowering female ophthalmologists, optometrists and students.
HONOURS
Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, New Year 2023
To be a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
SHAW, Ms Coral May
For services to public service, the judiciary and the community
Ms Coral Shaw chaired the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State Care and in the Care of Faith-based Institutions from 2019 to 2024.
Over her career Ms Shaw has led a range of significant public sector reviews including reviews of the Human Rights Commission and Fire and Emergency New Zealand. While chairing the Royal Commission, she demonstrated her advanced skills to marshal the extensive evidence and findings into five substantive reports, demonstrated empathy in personally engaging with survivors, and ensuring that thousands of abuse survivors were able to be heard and that faith-based institutions and the State could be held to account. Earlier in her career she was a District Court Judge in West Auckland from 1992 to 1999, where she introduced a fast-track system for family violence cases and established the WAVES Trust, which coordinates services for both victims and offenders, and pioneered a range of court-wide judicial education programmes. She integrated a pioneering kaupapa Māori-based restorative justice programme into the Court’s sentencing processes, informing a model for other courts nationally. She was the first woman appointed as a judge of the Employment Court, serving from 1999 to 2009, and was a Judge of the United Nations Dispute Tribunal from 2009 to 2016. Ms Shaw’s involvement with voluntary initiatives includes prisoner rehabilitation, services to seniors, marae based and local community services, and the Citizens Advice Bureau.
To be a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
SPOTSWOOD, Ms Dorothy Myrtle
For services to philanthropy
Ms Dorothy Spotswood, together with her partner Sir Mark Dunajtschik, have contributed to a range of philanthropic causes and charities for more than 50 years.
Sir Mark and Ms Spotswood donated $53 million to enable the build of Te Wao Nui (Wellington Children’s Hospital) in the Mark Dunajtschik and Dorothy Spotswood Building. She announced in 2025 that she would fund the base build of the Dorothy Spotswood Charity Hospital, Wellington, donating $10 million for the fitout. They have pledged funds for a mental health unit in Lower Hutt and a significant legacy gift through the Nikau Foundation. They were recognised with the New Zealand Legacy Award at the 2025 Kiwibank New Zealand of the Year Awards. In her own right, she has purchased land and funded several homes for Hōhepa Trust to help establish facilities in Kāpiti, allowing children and residents with intellectual disabilities to be cared for in the Wellington Region. She was acknowledged by Hōhepa at the opening of the Dorothy Spotswood Village in Kāpiti. Together with Sir Mark, they funded homes for L’Arche Kāpiti, a similar organisation to Hōhepa providing residential care for those with intellectual disabilities. Ms Spotswood supported Sir Mark in helping found a helicopter rescue service in Wellington in the mid-1970s, the precursor to the Westpac Helicopter rescue service.